The Long Road
by LSUABW
Summary: The sequel to "The Battles Within". How much can Beast Boy and the Titans do to protect Raven from an unspeakable threat? Chapter 10 is up: Slade unveils his plans. Chapter 11 update: coming September 2013. Sorry about the long wait, y'all. I haven't given up on this story, I promise. Rated M for language, to be safe. I do not own Teen Titans, its characters, or anything else.
1. Luck

**Hello, fellow Teen Titans fanatics! This is my second story, and it's the sequel to my first story, entitled "The Battles Within". If you haven't read that one, I definitely suggest you go read that one first!**

**I'm gonna say this: this story does kinda start out slow, but PLEASE give it a chance. You'll find that the story starts to develop nicely in the next few chapters.  
**

**The first chapter starts about five weeks after "The Battles Within" ends. Hope you like it! :)**

"Wake up, sleepy-head!" the sorceress sang.

Beast Boy's eyes popped open as the morning sun shone through the window and onto his eyes. He groaned and quickly closed his eyes again and turned his head away from the window, so that the rays didn't burn his retinas. His head fell off of something and landed on the familiar hot-pink bed sheets.

He heard a light chuckle from above him, and he re-opened his eyes and lifted up his head. His eyes met those of his beautiful Raven, whose lap his head had been resting on. He couldn't help but flash his standard goofy smile at her still-giddy face.

"What time did I fall asleep?" he inquired, rubbing his eyes.

"About thirty minutes before I did," she replied softly, still flashing her pearly whites. Her smile, now that she had good reason to reveal it on a regular basis, continued to grow wider as time progressed.

"What time is it?" he wondered out loud.

"Iunno," Raven said lazily. "About 10:30, maybe?"

"Huh, didn't think I was that tired," Beast Boy groaned. "I didn't even realize I zonked out."

"You talk in your sleep, did you know that?" Raven chortled, completely changing the subject.

Caught off-guard, Beast Boy shook his head rapidly in disbelief and stared at Raven, his face twisting with embarrassment.

"Do I really?" he asked, now extremely nervous. Even though they'd been together for more than a month now, he still felt somewhat insecure around her.

"Don't worry, I think it's cute," Raven assured him, her eyes sparkling in the sunlight, which only lit the bed through the small gap between the curtains. The rest of the room was still cast in darkness.

"What do I talk about?" Beast Boy wondered, the worry disappearing from his face as he relaxed.

"I'm not gonna tell you," she sang mockingly. "Then you'll stop doing it, and it won't be as much fun to watch you sleep!"

"Oh, you're gonna tell me, all right!" Beast Boy said slyly, lunging himself at her and playfully rolling on top of her, pinning her to the bed as they laughed.

"Easy, BB!" Raven warned him, still chuckling slightly. "There's a baby in there, remember?"

"Of course, Rae, I know," he said, letting his gaze fall upon her stomach.

He loved how she started calling him "BB" when they were alone together. It took him a while to get used to it, considering the only form of Raven that ever called him "BB" before now was Happy when he and Cyborg were sucked through Raven's mirror-portal into Nevermore.

But the main thing about Raven that he still hadn't fully gotten used to was her new-found personality.

She was still the dark, mysterious Titan he had fallen in love with in the past. And when they were around the team, she was still pretty much her usual self: dry monotone and even drier sarcasm.

The only indication of their pairing that was evident to the other Titans was the fact that Raven had significantly cut back on her snide remarks and put-downs toward Beast Boy, along with the occasional hand-holding and smiles.

But when they were alone together, she simply seemed like a girl who was...normal. She had begun to show him the positive end of the spectrum of human emotion when they were alone together - joy, love, and lust.

Still going over his thoughts, he eased his grip on her and started to roll himself off of her.

"That doesn't mean you can't be on top of me, goofball!" she cooed, and she grabbed him before he rolled all the way off of her, rolled him back on top of her, and pulled him into a passionate kiss.

Even though they'd had dozens of moments like this in the past month, Beast Boy still got butterflies in his stomach whenever Raven kissed him. He could taste the passion in her lips, and inside, he felt his love for her grow ever stronger with each moment spent with her in his arms.

"It just means you can't be so _rough_," she said seductively after their lips broke away from the kiss. She winked at him, and pulled him back in for another smooch.

"Yeah," Beast Boy said, trying to shove in his sentence between breaths. "That's… too… bad… 'cuz… I… know… how… you… like… it… _rough_."

Raven giggled and continued sliding her tongue against his. After a few more minutes of tonsil hockey, Beast Boy finally broke away and rolled over onto the bed next to her.

"How'd I get so lucky to have a guy like you?" Raven asked him, turning her head so she could gaze into those crystal-clear emerald eyes of his.

"Luck had nothing to do with it," he declared proudly. "Your beauty and personality did the work for you." He started to lean in for another kiss, when the first word of his reply rang a bell in his head.

"OH, SHIT!" he screamed.

"What's the matter?" Raven's facial expression instantly became one of concern.

"Luck!" Beast Boy shouted. He noticed the confusion on Raven's face. "Andrew Luck! The football game!" he explained. "The Colts/Ravens wild card game! It started at 10:00!"

Beast Boy launched himself off her bed and ran toward the door, but skidded to a stop after only two steps.

He turned back and looked at his love, and he sighed happily. "Ya know what? Forget about it. You're the only Raven I need to watch today," he added with a smile.

She smiled and shook her head softly.

"No, go ahead, it's okay," she told him. She shifted her legs beneath herself, and sat Indian style on her bed. "You've been spending every day with me this week, and I appreciate it. But you should hang out with Cyborg and Robin, too."

Her smile reassured him, and he couldn't resist the natural impulse to smile back.

He ran over to her, leaned over the bed and kissed her forehead, then her nose, and then her tender lips.

"Thanks, Rae," he whispered. "I love you!" and he took off, the smile still glued to his face.

Raven put her hand on her lips as he sprinted out the door, still feeling his warm, inviting lips on hers.

She still saw fireworks inside her head every time he kissed her, even just with the little ones, like he'd just given her.

She liked how Beast Boy suddenly had gotten interested in football. He'd always liked it, but recently he began a sudden obsession with the NFL, the Baltimore Ravens in particular. It seemed as if everyone in Jump City knew the reason why he became a fan of the Ravens, not that it was a well-kept secret. He'd even custom-ordered a Ravens jersey with the name "Raven" on the back, above a big number 1, and he wore it every Sunday since he got it.

Raven chuckled at the thought of him screaming at the TV acting like he knew the ins and outs of the game. She'd watched a little bit of a game with him the week before, and she observed him screaming at the players, coaches and referees through the TV, only to have Cyborg rebuke him each time with an explanation that would evoke angry grumbling from the green Titan.

She'd never tell him, but she loved when Beast Boy would try to explain the game to her as it happened, and then have Cyborg correct every one of Beast Boy's explanations with a smirk.

She even caught herself watching ESPN from time to time when she was alone in the Tower, to try to educate herself regarding the rules of the game and the goings-on of the football world. She couldn't wait to break out some of her knowledge to impress (or show up) Beast Boy.

Raven sighed happily and leaned backward, landing on her back. Her head hit the pillow with a soft thud, and mere moments later, she drifted off to sleep. A smile remained on her gentle, gray face.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ 

_"I…I'm…" she couldn't force the words out. She knew she had to tell him, no matter how much she didn't want to, no matter how much she wished it wasn't true, for fear of driving him away._

_"Yeah?" Beast Boy's face was one of seriousness and anxiety, but also excitement._

_"I'm…" she gazed into his eyes, hoping what she was about to say wouldn't make him stand up and leave._

_"I'm…pregnant…"_

_Silence filled her room, with Beast Boy's face drained of any emotion. He simply stared at her, with oddly dull, calculating eyes._

_Her heart slowly began sinking with every passing second. She allowed her head to droop downward, and she began looking at the floor._

_"I completely understand if you want to leave," she said sadly. "I wouldn't blame yo—" _

_Raven was interrupted as she felt hands lift her head up, followed swiftly by a pair of green lips pressing against hers. She gasped, but quickly sank into Beast Boy's kiss, her heart rising again and melting in the passion of it all._

_Beast Boy broke off the kiss, took a step back, still holding her waist, and stared into her eyes with his emerald orbs, which once again glowed brilliantly._

_"I would _never_ leave you," he stated simply. "It took me years to get enough courage to tell you how I feel about you. Did you really think I'd let you go that easily?"_

_Raven's eyes flashed, and she beamed at him with a smile that rivaled Starfire's._

_"Oh, BB!" she exclaimed, and threw herself onto him, wrapping her arms and legs around him and burying her face into his as their tongues danced._

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ _  
_

Raven lay unconscious on her bed, clutching her giant stuffed chicken, and she sighed a small, contented sigh. The smile re-emerged on her lips, and she shifted in her sleep, hugging the chicken tighter.

...

**End of chapter 1!**

**(Keep in mind, Jump City is on the Pacific coast of the U.S., so the football game would have started at 1:00 EST, which would be 10:00 PST)**


	2. Light

**Hiya!**

**...**

**...Anyway, here's chapter 2, I hope you enjoy it! Please read, review and share! (I don't own any of the NFL teams mentioned, yadda yadda yadda)**

Hurried footsteps echoed through the halls of Titans Tower as Beast Boy sprinted to his room. He skidded to a stop outside his door, removed his glove from his right hand, and placed the green appendage on the scanner beside the door. There was a small beep, followed by a _whoosh_ as the door swiftly slid open.

Beast Boy entered his room and darted to his closet. He opened the door and began digging around, looking for the proper attire for his upcoming afternoon activity.

"Where is it?" the shape-shifter queried aloud, still frantically searching through the clutter. He realized how messy he had allowed his room to get in the past few weeks. Fortunately for him, though, Raven didn't seem to mind. They'd spent the vast majority of their time together in her room, anyway.

"WHERE THE FUCK IS IT?!" he bellowed, spastically throwing stray shirts, pants and socks all over creation. His breathing accelerated, and his heart rate sped up more than it probably should have.

"Ah-ha, _finally_!" he screamed victoriously after thirty seconds of panicked rummaging. He quickly threw on the mesh uniform and nimbly made his way to the Titans' living room.

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Cyborg reached across the coffee table to the bowl of sour-cream-and-onion-flavored chips and grabbed a handful with his enormous metallic fingers. He returned his hand to his mouth and stuffed his face with the chips, chomping greedily at them.

"I can't believe BB's missing the game," Cyborg said, his mouth still full. A few crumbs spewed from his mouth and landed on the coffee table as he spoke.

"Yeah, I hope he's okay," Robin replied, staring at the crumbs Cyborg had just spat onto the coffee table. He slowly brought his gaze back to the giant screen before them. "Should we go find him?" he asked, sounding completely disinterested.

"Nah," the eldest Titan answered. "He's probably in Raven's room or something. Besides, it's quieter watching the game without him and his constant yelling at the TV."

Robin began nodding his head in agreement when suddenly, as if on cue, the doors of the living room opened and Beast Boy dashed across the room toward the TV. He leaped over the back of the couch and plopped down on the cushions beside his teammates.

"What'd I miss?" Beast Boy asked hurriedly.

"The whole first quarter," Robin responded, keeping his eyes focused on the screen, though he wasn't really paying attention to the game.

"What's the score?" Beast Boy asked, still panting.

"Still no score," Cyborg said, mindlessly examining the dark-purple Ravens jersey that Beast Boy was wearing. The mechanized Titan took another sip from the can of Miller Lite he was holding and looked back up at the TV. "Not much happened."

"Ah, so a defensive match-up?" Beast Boy wondered out loud. Cyborg belched loudly as a response, evoking a half-hearted snicker from the green Titan.

Robin had begun to doze off when the Titans' alarm went off. The Boy Wonder jolted awake at the sudden obnoxious siren and sprang to his feet. He ran over to the computer and began locating the source of the distress call.

"Aw, man!" Beast Boy whined. "Who's committing a crime during a goddamn playoff game?"

"BB, I bet you're the _only_ person in Jump City who gives a rat's ass about a game that's being played in Baltimore, three thousand miles away from here," Cyborg replied condescendingly.

"That's not true!" Beast Boy barked. "Besides, you're a Patriots fan, and New England is just as far away from here as Baltimore, yet you still insist that we watch the Patriots play!"

"Yeah," Cyborg remarked, "but the Patriots are actually _good_, and people actually _care_ about them!"

"That's bullshit!" Beast Boy complained. "I bet you the Ravens are gonna win the Super Bowl this year!"

"Ha, 'win the Super Bowl' my ass," Cyborg said, stifling a chuckle. "There's no way they'll get past the Broncos _and_ my Patriots."

Beast Boy opened his mouth to retaliate when the living room door opened and Starfire and Raven flew in. They landed beside the rest of the team and peeked over Robin's shoulder at the computer screen as Robin was furiously typing away.

"What is the situation?" Starfire inquired.

"Dr. Light's robbing the bank downtown," Robin answered the Tamaranian, relieved slightly that he now had something to do besides watch the game. "Titans, move out!"

The game disappeared from the giant screen and the enormous window overlooking the city opened.

Still grumbling, Beast Boy carefully removed his jersey, revealing his normal uniform, and he placed the jersey on the back of the couch. He walked over to the window and joined his team, standing next to Raven and grasping her hand in his. She looked at his loving eyes and beamed, and he sheepishly flashed his goofy grin in return.

Though she hadn't really thought about it, she now had to look up slightly at Beast Boy. In the past few months, he'd been getting considerably taller, but it wasn't until just a couple weeks ago that he'd actually surpassed Raven in height.

Compared with her 5'6" frame, Beast Boy now stood at about 5'7", which was perfectly fine with Raven.

She was now the shortest Titan, though she was rarely on her feet in battle anyway.

"You ready?" Raven asked her grass-colored boyfriend.

"You bet, Rae," he replied with a playful smirk.

She chuckled softly, then leaned over to him and gave him a peck on the cheek. His heart fluttered in his chest as he grinned at her.

Then the pair turned to face the horizon, and all five Titans jumped out the window. Raven provided a large disc made of her dark energy for Robin and Cyborg to ride on while the others flew toward downtown.

The water beneath them glistened a translucent blue. The sunlight bounced off the slightly rippling surface of the bay and into the eyes of the soaring Titans, who shielded their eyes as they made their way downtown.

Raven closed her eyes and channeled her focus into Beast Boy's mind as she telepathically spoke to him.

_"How much longer can we keep this up, Beast Boy?"_

_"Not much longer," he replied mentally, followed by an audible sigh. "We'll have to tell them soon. Even now, you joining us on this mission is putting the baby at risk."_

_"I know," Raven thought sullenly. "I think we should tell them when we get back to the Tower."_

_"Okay," Beast Boy agreed with a reluctant smile, "but after the game."_

_Raven scoffed at him, then shook her head softly and smiled._

_"What?" he said in mock-defensiveness. "I gotta watch my Ravens play!"_

_She simply shook her head and smiled again, this one even wider than the previous one._

_"Just remember, stay as far away from Dr. Light as you can," Beast Boy reminded her. "Only use your telekinesis from a distance, and be extra alert for Dr. Light's energy beams, and any projectiles that might come your way."_

_"I know, BB," she acknowledged. "I will."_

The Titans descended to the city street and stood in front of the bank.

A scrawny villain in a black armored suit ran out the doors of the bank, clutching a giant bag full of cash that was slung over his shoulder. He laughed maniacally as he exited the building, looking over his shoulder at the security guards he'd just gotten past.

As soon as he turned around to see where he was going, he collided with Cyborg and fell backward onto the pavement. Cyborg didn't even budge.

A look of pure horror came across Dr. Light's face as he looked up at the cybernetic Titan towering over him.

Cyborg smirked as he reached down and grabbed the criminal by the collar. He lifted Dr. Light up to his eye level and laughed.

"You're pretty dull, Light," Cyborg quipped. "Seriously, you – AAAGH!"

Before Cyborg could react, Dr. Light's energy beam hit him right in the chest and sent him flying backward, narrowly missing Raven, which caused Beast Boy to momentarily seize up in a state of panic. Cyborg landed on the asphalt and skidded a few feet before coming to rest at the feet of a by-standing citizen.

"Okay, time to get serious," he said as he picked himself up. Then he dusted himself off and rejoined his team. The villain took his fighting stance as he prepared to attack.

"It's time for 'lights out', Dr. Light," Robin said firmly.

"Fools!" Dr. Light responded. "You think you can pull the plug on Dr. Light? Think again!" He grunted and sent a massive beam of yellowish-white energy toward the heroes.

"Titans, go!" Robin shouted. The heroes scattered in every direction to avoid the energy beam. Raven floated backward a bit, following Beast Boy's instructions, and observed the fight from a decent distance to determine how she could help her teammates.

Robin grabbed some electric discs from his utility belt and flung them at the villain, who conjured a bright yellow force field to absorb the explosion from the discs.

The force field disappeared after a couple seconds, and Beast Boy and Cyborg simultaneously converged on Dr. Light from opposite sides. Beast Boy morphed into a Sasquatch and swung a giant, hairy fist at the luminescent villain. Cyborg also cocked his arm back to unleash a metallic knuckle sandwich across the villain's jaw.

Dr. Light saw them both in his peripheral vision and quickly stepped backward. The two converging fists missed Dr. Light, and struck each other's faces instead. Both Cyborg and Beast Boy were thrown backward onto the pavement. Neither of them could get up, and Dr. Light couldn't help but laugh.

"And you called _me _dull?" he taunted as an evil smile crept across his face.

Starfire cried out, her eyes and hands illuminated with green light, and she flew full speed toward the villain. She threw several starbolts, but each one hit Dr. Light's force field. The force field disappeared and a bright white light appeared on the light bulb logo on the villain's chest. The light turned into a powerful beam that struck Starfire in her chest and knocked her to the ground.

"Star!" Robin yelled, as he ran over to help her. But Dr. Light launched another beam of energy at Robin, and it hit him before he could reach Starfire and he was knocked away from his alien lover.

Cyborg groaned as he slowly stood up, keeping his hand on his head as he tried to combat the pain. Beast Boy's punch had really done a number on Cyborg's left jaw.

Dr. Light didn't let Cyborg have a full moment to recover, however. The villain flung an electric disc at the Titan and it landed at Cyborg's feet. Cyborg dove out the way of the explosion, and performed a perfect tuck-and-roll. He came to rest on one knee and fired his sonic cannon at Dr. Light, who lifted his hand to create a reflective force field. The sonic blast hit the force field, bounced off of it and went right back at Cyborg.

"What the -?" Cyborg managed to say before the sonic blast struck him in the gut and sent him flying backward into the second floor of the office building across the street. He tried to get up from the mass of cubicles, broken walls and computer equipment, but couldn't gather the strength. He fainted and fell back down on the rubble.

Dr. Light laughed victoriously for a moment, and then looked around for the missing Titan.

"Huh," the villain pondered. "Where's the dark one? Was the brilliance of Dr. Light finally too much for her?"

He didn't notice the 18-wheeler hovering above him, encased in black energy. The black energy suddenly vanished, and gravity brought the massive vehicle down upon the villain. An enormous thud and a scream radiated through air, followed by a loud groan from the subdued criminal.

"Nope," Raven answered his question plainly as she touched down in front of the 18-wheeler that now rested upon the unconscious villain.

Robin slowly got up and walked over to Starfire and helped her to her feet.

"Great work, Raven," the Boy Wonder said appreciatively, now walking toward the mysterious Titan. "Now let's take him to jail."

Raven nodded, and she waved her hand. The big rig became surrounded with black energy and levitated off the ground, floating away from the crime scene and landing in a nearby parking lot.

Robin walked over to Dr. Light, who still lay unconscious on his stomach with his arms stretched out in front of him on the ground. He brought the villain's hands behind his back and hand-cuffed him.

Cyborg appeared next to Raven and groaned, placing a hand on his face and rubbing his jaw.

"That was a hell of a right hook earlier, BB," he congratulated the green Titan on his misfired assault. "BB?"

Beast Boy lay unconscious on the ground in his human form, his face bloody and swollen.

"Oh shit," Cyborg whispered softly. He bent down and placed his hand on Beast Boy's shoulder and shook him softly. "Beast Boy, can you hear me?"

The changeling twitched and groaned quietly for a moment, and then was silent again.

"He's pretty seriously hurt," Robin observed. "Raven, take him back to the Tower. We'll take Dr. Light to jail."

Raven nodded solemnly, and her eyes glimmered with her dark energy as a disc of black energy appeared beneath the injured Titan. She stepped onto the disc, and the two of them floated off upon it toward the Tower.

...


	3. Recovery

**So here's chapter 3! Kinda sucks what happened to BB. Will he be okay? Read on and find out! **

**Enjoy! :) (Please read, review and share!) **

The medical wing was quiet. Too quiet even for Raven.

The only sound that could be heard was the heart monitor beeping to the rhythm of Beast Boy's heartbeat. The only things that moved were Beast Boy's chest, which rose and fell with each breath, and the flame of the candle Raven had brought from her room.

She had been sitting next to Beast Boy's bed for nearly twelve hours since she had hooked him up to all the necessary machines, which thankfully Cyborg had taught the team how to do. The seconds seemed to move slower and slower and the minutes dragged on.

After returning from taking Dr. Light to jail, Robin, Starfire and Cyborg had all come by the medical wing at some point to wish Beast Boy well and to converse with Raven for a few moments before going on with their day. Cyborg stayed for a little while, to check all the machines and run some tests on Beast Boy.

Beast Boy's eyes were closed, and his face was wrapped in some gauze that Raven had found in the medical supply closet. A thin layer of blood from his wounds had soaked into the gauze that she'd gingerly applied to his face after she placed him on the bed.

Raven held his hand in hers, and sighed deeply.

He'd suffered a broken right jaw from Cyborg's powerful punch, which was intended for Dr. Light. He'd also lost a tooth from the accidental assault, along with a fairly large amount of blood.

Raven knew that this was by no means a life-threatening situation. But she couldn't help but feel more and more nervous as the time passed.

_"It's been almost twelve hours," Raven thought sullenly. "Surely a broken jaw wouldn't keep him unconscious for this long. There must be something else wrong."_

But as far as she and Cyborg could tell from the X-rays, there was nothing else: no major internal bleeding, no severe head trauma.

She allowed her head to droop down, and some of her bangs fell in front of her violet eyes.

She stared at the black and white tile floor for a moment, and then closed her eyes.

"Please be okay, Beast Boy," Raven whispered. "You've got to be okay."

She sat back up and looked once more at her green lover, who lay unconscious on the bed in front of her. A tear escaped from the corner of her eye as she gazed upon his face.

"I can't stand to see you in pain," Raven said glumly.

She stood up and walked up to the side of the bed. She looked down at the youngest Titan and sighed gloomily.

After a few seconds, she looked up at the clock, which read 10:32 p.m.

She reached out her hand and placed it lightly on Beast Boy's injured jaw. Her hand glowed with an icy, blue energy - she was using her magic to help ease the pain. After ten seconds of this, Raven moved her hand away from his jaw and stroked the other side of his face, caressing him lovingly, as if she expected him to feel her skin against his.

A yawn emerged from Raven's throat as she tried to combat her exhaustion. She couldn't help but wonder why she was so tired just from sitting in a chair.

She decided to go back to her room to grab a pillow and some blankets so she could stay in the medical wing with Beast Boy for the night.

She bent down and kissed his forehead. A stray tear fell from her chin and landed on Beast Boy's nose.

"I'll be back, Garfield, I promise," she whispered in his ear. "I love you."

She turned and walked toward the door. She stopped momentarily, spinning around to gaze upon the unconscious Titan lying on the bed.

She sighed again, and slowly turned back around, walking out the door toward her room.

_**LATER THAT NIGHT**_

Beast Boy slowly opened his eyes and blinked at the ceiling.

He strained as he tried to sit up, and did so successfully, though the pain was formidable. He groaned and rubbed his jaw, grazing his fingers over the gauze that covered it and feeling how swollen and sensitive the skin around his jaws were.

"Ugh," he groaned. "What happened?"

He scratched his head, trying to remember what had happened before he got knocked out. The last thing he remembered was sprinting toward Dr. Light and turning into a Sasquatch.

"Dr. Light," he growled, grinding his teeth in a fit of rage. "Asshole must have knocked me out with one of his energy beams or some crap."

He turned his head and saw Raven lying stretched out on the chair, sleeping, and his rage immediately subsided.

Her head rested on a pillow that Beast Boy recognized from her bed. As he looked at her, sprawled out in the uncomfortable chair, he couldn't draw his attention away from her.

"She stayed with me the whole time I was in here," he sighed. "Like I should've done for her after Adonis attacked her."

Feeling his strength slowly-but-steadily returning, Beast Boy swung his legs over the side of the hospital bed, and hopped off of it. He landed in a slightly awkward position and allowed a moment for his legs to adjust to an upright standing position.

He noticed the candle on the cart, and he bent down to blow it out. Then he turned and shuffled over to Raven.

"C'mon, let's get you to bed," he spoke softly, making sure not to wake her.

He bent down, placed his arms under her, and gently picked her up with a grunt. He momentarily lost his balance as he stood back up with her in his arms, but he regained his equilibrium quickly, and walked toward the door. Raven stirred slightly in her sleep.

_**A FEW MINUTES LATER**_

After the strenuous voyage from the medical wing to Raven's room, Beast Boy gently shifted her in his grasp to bring his hands together. He skillfully pulled the glove off his right hand, and held his ungloved hand up to the scanner. After a few beeps, the scanner blinked green, and the door slid open.

He couldn't tell her enough how thankful he was to her for allowing his hand to be programmed into the scanner for her bedroom door. It really came in handy, especially for carrying her back to her room when she was asleep, like he'd done several times in the last month when they would stay up and watch movies together late at night.

Readjusting her in his arms, he slowly made his way to her bed. He looked down at her as he neared her bed, and smiled through the pain he'd been suffering during their trip to her room.

"Here we are," the green Titan chuckled. He tenderly set her down on the bed, grunting slightly as he unloaded his precious cargo. He pulled the sheets and comforter over her and tucked her in. She shifted slightly in her sleep and sighed.

He sat down beside her on the hot pink bed sheets and beamed, as her beauty could be seen even underneath the covers. He smiled to himself and shook his head softly.

"You don't deserve her, Beast Boy," he told himself. "Just give her everything she needs, and pray that you don't screw up again."

He leaned down and kissed her chakra, running his ungloved fingers through her thick, dark hair. He rubbed her head, and he heard her moan slightly in her unconscious state.

Beast Boy smiled, and then bent down again and kissed her nose, then her lips.

"I love you so much, Rae," he whispered. Even though he knew she was asleep, for some reason he almost expected a response from her.

He stood up and walked toward the door. He reached the door, and then looked back at her, rubbing his jaw.

"Good night, my sweet Raven."

He turned back toward the door and hit the button on the wall, opening the door. He exited her room, still rubbing his jaw.

"I gotta get this crap off my face," the changeling said disgustedly as he headed for the bathroom, beginning to peel the bandages off his face.

He peeled off a section, uncovering about half of his right jaw. He held the gauze up to his face to examine it, and shuddered at the sight of the dried blood soaked into it.

"Damn, what the hell happened to me?" he wondered. "I'm assuming we at least got Dr. Light."

He reached the bathroom, and approached the sink. He peeled off the remaining gauze and tossed it all into the garbage can.

"Gross," Beast Boy groaned.

He turned on the faucet, feeling the cold water hit his palms as he prepared to wash his face. He rubbed his hands against his face, allowing the water to splash the blood and dirt away. He grabbed a towel and dried his face.

He replaced the towel on the little towel rack, and looked at himself in the mirror.

His jaw was still pretty swollen, and he placed his hand upon it.

"Well, don't you look beautiful," he said to himself sarcastically. He laughed at his reflection and shook his head.

"You little bitch," he added insultingly, though he was still laughing at himself. "You probably let Dr. Light drop you like a sack of potatoes, didn't you?"

Beast Boy stopped laughing, and then looked down and sighed.

"You gotta toughen up, you pussy," he criticized himself. "Raven needs you to be a man for her, not some weakling who lets scrawny-ass punks like Dr. Light beat you up."

_**THE NEXT DAY**_

Raven slowly awoke, and then stretched her arms and legs. She rolled off her bed and landed on her feet with a small thud. She walked toward her door and headed for the bathroom.

She suddenly stopped in front of her door as confusion swept over her.

"Wait, how did I get back in my bed?" Raven wondered aloud. "I don't remember coming back to my room. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep in the medical wing last night."

She made her way to the bathroom hastily, showered and changed quickly, and then hurriedly made her way to the medical wing.

The door opened and Raven ran inside the room, gasping at what she found - or didn't find.

"Empty?" she wondered.

She whipped around and sped out the door, sprinting toward Beast Boy's room.

She banged on his door with a tightly closed fist.

"Beast Boy!" she called. "Are you in there?"

After ten seconds passed with no response, she put her hand on the scanner, which Beast Boy had also programmed to allow access to his significant other.

The door opened and Raven stepped inside his room. She looked around, but her oddly-colored boyfriend was nowhere to be found.

Not knowing where to go next to look for him, she decided to just go fix herself some herbal tea to calm herself down.

After a minute of walking and thinking to herself, she entered the living room and stopped in her tracks, standing in front of the doorway.

"There you are!" Raven hollered.

"Well good mornin' there, darlin'," Beast Boy chirped with a fake country accent. He stood at the kitchen sink, pouring Raven's tea that he made for her into a teacup.

She flew over to him and hugged him tightly against her body, nestling her head into his shoulder. She looked into his eyes, then looked at his swollen jaw. Her smile vanished, and it was replaced by an angry scowl.

"Why aren't you in the hospital room?!" she snapped. "And why did you bring me back to my room when you should've stayed in your hospital bed?"

"I got better," he chimed, flashing a sneaky smile.

Raven glared at him, but his smile melted the anger away. She knew better than to think Beast Boy wouldn't act recklessly with a minor injury.

He grinned wider at her, exposing his missing tooth and causing Raven to erupt into gales of laughter.

"What's so funny?" he laughed. "What, Rae?"

"Have you looked in a mirror lately?" she joked.

"Yeah, last night, after I put you back in your bed," Beast Boy replied. "I have a swollen jaw, but the swelling went down a good bit since last night. Why?"

"You might wanna double check your face," she said simply, stifling more laughter.

"What are you talking about?" he demanded, and then ran to the bathroom to see what she was laughing at.

He looked in the mirror and examined his face.

"Huh, I don't see anything that I didn't see last night," he muttered.

He opened his mouth wide to look down his throat when his eyes caught what Raven had found so hilarious.

"AAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHH!" he screamed. "My tooth! My fuckin' TOOTH!"

He stormed back to the living room, and was greeted by Raven's chuckling from the table as she sat sipping her tea.

"Dr. Light broke my jaw AND knocked out one of my teeth?!" he asked her angrily.

"Not Dr. Light," she answered. "Cyborg."

"What?" Beast Boy had not expected that answer. "Cyborg did this to me?"

"Not on purpose, don't worry," Raven assured him. "You both attacked Dr. Light from either side, and he ducked out of the way. You and Cyborg hit each other's faces and knocked each other out. It was only an accident."

"Oh, whew!" Beast Boy let out a huge sigh of relief. "I thought wimpy ol' Dr. Light knocked me out!" Thank God it was just Cyborg!"

"Why are you _thankful_ that Cyborg punched you out?" Raven inquired, thoroughly confused.

"Well, think about it," Beast Boy told her. "At least it was somebody big and strong that knocked me out, not some scrawny, two-bit villain."

"That's true, I guess," Raven admitted. "My big, strong man only gets knocked out by other big, strong men, right?" she laughed.

"Yeah," Beast Boy replied playfully. "And this big, strong man has to protect his precious little gem," he said with a smile, hugging her tightly and planting a kiss on her forehead.

Raven abruptly pulled away from his hug. Beast Boy looked utterly confused, and concerned.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"It's nothing," she lied, looking at the floor, then back at her benevolent green lover. His eyes, seething with skepticism at her response, met hers and coaxed her into telling him the truth. "It's…it's just that I get a little uncomfortable when you call me that."

"What, 'gem'?" he queried. "Why does that –"

He froze momentarily with his mouth still open, and then he nodded as he realized what she was referring to.

"It's because of Trigon, isn't it?" He asked. "'The gem shall be his portal'?"

Raven nodded solemnly.

"I promise, I appreciate your compliment, BB," she assured him. "I know you didn't mean anything by it. And you didn't know, it's okay."

She smiled weakly at him, and he returned hers with one of his own.

"Come here," he said softly, and he pulled her in close. He stared deep into her dark, mystical eyes. Then he closed his eyes and kissed her pouty lips with such tenderness that Raven's knees buckled, almost making her fall from the loss of balance.

Beast Boy caught her, and chuckled at her clumsy mishap.

"I just make your knees weak, huh?" he teased.

She responded with a giggle, and swung her arms over his shoulders as she planted a passionate kiss on his soft green lips.

...

**End of chapter 3! Please review and share, and as always, CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is always welcomed!  
**


	4. Revelation

**Here's chapter 4! So BB's okay, and the other Titans are in for a surprise! Read on, I hope you enjoy it! Please review! :)**

"Raven, why have you invited me to your room so suddenly?" Starfire asked the demoness as the bedroom door closed behind them.

The Titans had hardly been awake for an hour and the day had not even fully started, with the exception of breakfast – scrambled tofu eggs and soy milk, at Beast Boy's demand – which, expectedly, only he ate. Starfire was still rubbing her eyes as she tried to shield them from the sunlight entering between the curtains.

"It's important, Star," Raven answered the alien princess. "Beast Boy and I have something to tell all of you, but we felt it would be best if I told you and he told Cyborg and Robin."

"If this revelation requires this kind of approach, I suppose it must be urgent," she admitted.

"It is," Raven replied in her guttural monotone.

She sighed, not knowing exactly how to phrase her words. She also tried to prepare herself for whatever reaction Starfire would have: probably a bone-crushing hug, which would no doubt harm the baby.

She knew Starfire would never intentionally jeopardize the health of a Titan's unborn child, but her excitement had gotten the better of her on more than one occasion in the past, so Raven tried to space herself from the Tamaranian without offending her.

"Is this news good or bad?" Starfire inquired.

"Good, I guess," Raven muttered. "Depends on who you ask."

"What do you mean?" Starfire asked the empath.

"Well, I'm sure Robin won't be too happy," Raven blurted out condescendingly. "I can only hope he doesn't tear Beast Boy a new one."

"Tear him a 'new what', Raven?" Starfire asked. Even though she'd become accustomed to much of the English language and its slang terminology, Starfire had never actually heard this expression before. "I'm certain that Robin would do no such thing, whatever it is."

"Never mind," Raven said, trying to get back to the topic at hand. "The fact is… I…"

"Yes?!" Starfire squealed with anticipation and started jumping up and down. "Please, you _must _tell me, dear friend! What is the big news?!"

"Star, I'm…"

_***MEANWHILE IN THE TITANS' LIVING ROOM***_

"_PREGNANT?!" _Robin and Cyborg shouted simultaneously.

"Yep," Beast Boy affirmed. "Raven and I are having a baby."

"A _BABY_?!" Cyborg questioned again.

"Yes, Cyborg," Beast Boy answered him a second time. The frustration was setting in, and was in danger of exploding if one of them asked the question again. After 15 seconds of stunned silence, the father-to-be sighed.

"Raven and I had sex the night we fought Adonis," the green teen explained. "After she recovered from her injuries, she left the medical wing and came to my room, and before I could even apologize, she hugged me. In the craziness of the moment, I kissed her, and she kissed me back. One thing led to another, and we made love for the first time. I told her that it was the most amazing night of my life, and she said the same thing."

The other two male Titans were frozen in their seats on the couch, utterly flabbergasted at the words put forth by the young Titan. Their jaws had fallen to the couch cushions as they tried to comprehend the story.

"I was so caught up in the moment that I didn't think to use protection, and she got pregnant," Beast Boy finished.

Robin and Cyborg shot each other a glance, jaws still drooping.

"Well?" Beast Boy prodded. "What do you guys have to say about it?"

"Is…that what Raven is talking to Star about?" Robin asked, his facial expression returning to normal.

"Yeah," Beast Boy replied.

A scream reverberated through the Tower from the direction of Raven's room, which Beast Boy recognized as one of Starfire's joyful screeches.

"I assume Starfire is taking the news better than you guys are," he added.

Robin glared at Beast Boy and snorted, crossing his arms over his broad chest.

"Well, don't say it like _that_, BB," Cyborg remarked. "I mean, if you and Raven are excited about it, then I'll be excited with y'all. But if she's pregnant, then that means that –"

"Raven will have to forgo our missions until well after she delivers the baby," Robin stepped forward and finished Cyborg's sentence for him. "Starting now."

Beast Boy nodded in reluctant agreement.

"But Raven's a huge part of this team!" Cyborg pointed out. "If she can't fight with us, then who will? I mean, if it wasn't for her, Dr. Light might have beat us and gotten away yesterday! We need a team of five heroes to fight to keep this city safe!"

"I'll contact one of the honorary Titans," Robin stated in an authoritative tone. "Jinx, or maybe Kole."

"What about Bumblebee?" Cyborg interjected enthusiastically, unsuccessfully attempting to hide his excitement at the possibility of Bumblebee coming to live at Titans Tower for a while.

"Well, does it necessarily need to be a _female_ Titan?" Beast Boy wondered aloud.

"Not really," Robin answered. "Any of them could work. But if Jinx comes, then Kid Flash will probably want to come with her, which will only give us another advantage. They're kind of a package deal, and we could always use the extra help."

Robin was now excited at the thought of reuniting with Kid Flash. He and Kid Flash spent a lot of time hanging out after all the Titans had defeated the Brotherhood of Evil, but the two hadn't seen each other for many months. However, he hid his excitement well – just another talent he'd learned from the great Batman.

"But why not Bee?" Cyborg pleaded. "She kicks some serious ass, why not invite her to join the team for a while?"

"Cyborg, we can't just borrow Bumblebee from the Titans East," Robin explained. "They need her there in Steel City, too. If we got Bumblebee here, then the Titans East would have to replace her temporarily like we have to replace Raven, so that would be counter-productive for everyone involved."

"That's true," Cyborg conceded, his excitement fading away. "But where will Kid Flash and Jinx sleep? We only have one other bedroom!"

"Shouldn't be a problem," Beast Boy replied plainly. "The two of them have been sharing a bed for months. They'll be fine in the guest bedroom together."

"Alright, so we'll bring in Jinx and Kid Flash," Robin confirmed. Cyborg hesitated, but then nodded in agreement, his disappointment evident in his failed attempt to bring his crush to Jump City.

"Cool," Beast Boy said. "Guys, thanks for being so understanding about the pregnancy. It means a lot to me and Raven."

"Don't mention it, grass stain," Cyborg teased, returning to his usual cheerful self. "So now you're gonna be a boring, strict dad by the time you're 18?"

"Oh, don't worry, Cy," Beast Boy assured him. "I'll still be the same old me, and we'll still have our regular video game sessions."

"'Sessions'?" Cyborg joked. "You mean 'beat-downs'!"

Beast Boy scowled as the cybernetic Titan laughed.

"I'm gonna go see Raven," Beast Boy muttered, unable to think of a snappy comeback.

"Alright, but be sure to be at combat practice at 0900 hours," Robin reminded him. "I'll get in touch with Kid Flash and Jinx."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

As Beast Boy walked the halls of the tower en route to Raven's room, he gasped when he saw an orange and purple blur fly at him with tremendous speed.

As he started to shriek, he was enveloped in an all-too-familiar bone-squeezing hug from Starfire.

"Oh, congratulations, friend!" the floating Titan said with a delightful squeal. "I am overjoyed for you and Raven!" I can't wait to meet your little offspring!"

"Thanks, Star," Beast Boy managed to choke out from Starfire's crushing grasp. "But…I…can't…breathe!"

"Oh, my apologies," she said, releasing him from her powerful grip. He fell to the floor and landed on all fours, gasping for air. "Please, Robin did not 'tear you the new one', did he?"

"Huh?" the changeling groaned, entirely perplexed, as Starfire helped him back to his feet. "Oh…no, he took the news fairly well, I guess."

"Glorious!" the long-haired Titan chirped, and she flew down the hall to find the Boy Wonder. "I shall see you later, Beast Boy!"

Beast Boy held his left arm with his other arm. He winced in pain from the Tamaranian's forceful hug and resumed walking toward his beloved's room.

He stopped in front of her door, ungloved his hand and placed it on the scanner. Before the scanner beeped, however, the door opened and Raven stood in the doorway with her hand still on the button on her wall. She was just as startled to see him standing there as he was to see her.

"Oh, hey," she said routinely.

"Hey there," he replied with a smile. He leaned in and planted a soft kiss on her dark lips, replacing her indifferent countenance with a delighted one. "How'd it go with Star?" he asked after releasing her from his kiss. The two of them slowly retreated into Raven's room, and the door closed behind them.

"Well, she screamed so loud that my ear drums and my windows damn near shattered," Raven exaggerated. "Then she came at me and tried to hug me like Ray Lewis hugs a running back, but I was able to stop her before she reached me."

"Was that a football reference?" Beast Boy asked, flashing a toothy grin at the mysterious Titan.

"Yep," she answered proudly. "I'm getting better at this football thing!"

"You sure are!" her boyfriend congratulated her with a kiss on the cheek. Raven couldn't help but giggle. "Too bad Ray Lewis is probably gonna retire after this season."

"Well, he'll probably get a job as an analyst on ESPN or something," Raven responded. "They all are doing that, nowadays."

Beast Boy stared at her, amazed at her insight. Then he cracked a smile as he lauded her.

"Okay, who are you and what have you done with Raven?" he joked. Raven blushed, understanding the cliché and acknowledging the compliment. "I'm impressed with how much you know about football! Keep it up, and you just might know more than me one day."

"According to Cyborg, that day might come pretty soon," she teased. "He reams you behind your back constantly about your lack of football knowledge."

"Oh, does he?" Beast Boy replied with bitter sarcasm. "Well then, I'll just have to make him eat his words when the Ravens win the Super Bowl this year, like I predicted before the playoffs started."

"Speaking of Cyborg," Raven added, changing the subject, "how did he and Robin react?"

"Well," the green Titan began, "their jaws dropped, because they just couldn't believe it. Then Robin pointed out that since you can't fight with us while you're pregnant, we'll have to bring in an honorary Titan to fight in your place while you're…incapacitated."

"Oh," Raven replied sullenly. "I figured it would come to that. When does he think I need to stop going on missions with you guys?"

"Now," Beast Boy answered, now staring at the floor.

"Oh," Raven replied, obviously perturbed by the news. "Who does Robin think should replace me?"

"Jinx. We suppose that if she comes, then Kid Flash will come with her, so Robin can revive his 'bromance' with the speedster."

"Figures," Raven said with a sad, dry laugh.

"I'm sorry, Rae," Beast Boy tried to comfort his saddened girlfriend. "It'll be okay. It's not like we'll be leaving you here by yourself for hours at a time, it'll only for a little bit each time. And I'll come straight back here as soon as we stop the bad guy, to save you from your boredom."

"Okay, I guess I can deal with that," she chortled. She grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him to her, their bodies touching. She placed her hand on the back of his head and ran her long, slender fingers through his messy hair.

"What on Earth would I do without you?" she whispered wistfully.

"You won't ever have to know," he answered lovingly, and then he sleazily winked at her.

Her smile disappeared. "Way to ruin the moment."

"What?" He raised his hands in play-defensiveness.

Raven's smile returned, and she giggled as she reeled him back in for another smooch.

_***THREE HOURS LATER***_

The green and purple couple awoke at the same time from their nap, which was well-deserved after a hard day of combat practice.

Raven sat up and gazed down upon her green man, leaning on one elbow. His face rested on the fluffy pillow and stared back up at Raven's face.

"So what do you think we should name it?" Beast Boy broke the silence.

"Wow," Raven sounded shocked. "That came out of nowhere."

"Well, I've just been thinking about it lately," he admitted. After a long pause, he sighed. "I wonder if it's a boy or a girl."

"It's a boy."

He sprang forward into a seated position and furrowed his brow, confused.

"How do you know? You've only been pregnant for, like, a month and a half, if even that long. How can you already know the sex of the baby?"

"I can sense it," she replied with a bashful smile. "I can sense it, Beast Boy. I'm not a normal woman, remember?"

"I know," he added sweetly. "You're much more special."

She shivered happily at his words, which melted her heart like butter on toast.

She grabbed his collar and shoved his face into hers, burying them in passionate bliss.

"So...names..." he pondered after they let go of each other and fell back onto the bed. "How 'bout Garfield, Jr.?" he suggested with a corny smile.

"No," Raven replied flatly. "I don't want to subject my child to that kind of torture."

"Oh, ha-ha," Beast Boy droned sarcastically.

"Well, how about Mark?" she offered. "After his father's middle name."

"After his grandfather's first name," Beast Boy corrected, and a tear came to his eye.

Raven reached out a tender hand and wiped away the solitary tear. She grazed his soft skin with her fingers, gazing at him with an understanding sentimentality.

"Please? Can we name him after my dad?" he asked.

Raven smiled and nodded, pulling Beast Boy into a tender hug as he fought back more tears. His head rested on her shoulder as he choked back a sob, thinking of his deceased parents.

"I love you so much, Rae," he whispered, trying to cease his blubbering. "I love you so much."

"I love you too, Garfield. I love you too."

He pulled himself back a little, looked Raven in the eye, and went in for a kiss.

Out of nowhere, the Titan alarm sounded. Raven's room flashed with blinking red light, and the all-too-familiar obnoxious siren pounded their ears.

"Titans, trouble!" came Robin's voice from the intercom.

...


	5. Reinforcements

**Hey there! Guess what? Spring Break is coming! Unfortunately for me, I'm staying on campus and working over the break. Fortunately for y'all, that means that I'll be bored out of my mind for a week, which might lead to another chapter coming next week instead of waiting 'til the week after!**

**Anyway, here's chapter 5. Enjoy! (Please review and share!)**

Beast Boy and Raven sprinted through the halls of Titans Tower to the living room. The doors opened and the "expecting" couple ran to the computer, where Robin was locating the source of the distress signal.

"It's Slade," Robin reported without even waiting for Beast Boy or Raven to ask. "His robots are attacking a construction site on the far side of town."

Beast Boy and Raven shot each other a glance, and Raven could see the anxiety in Beast Boy's eyes. This was the first time in a long while that the Titans would be taking on a mission without Raven fighting by their side. She felt especially worried, since this particular mission involved Slade.

"Titans, move out!" Robin commanded, and then he, Cyborg and Starfire hustled out the living room door. Beast Boy stayed behind, with a somber-looking Raven standing beside him.

He turned to her and gave her a tender hug.

"I'll be back soon, I promise," he assured her.

"I know you will," she responded, but the concern emanating from her amethyst eyes broke through her lie. "Be safe. I love you."

"Love you too, Rae," he whispered, pecking her cheek. Then he walked backward toward the door, eyes still locked with Raven's. She waved good-bye to him, and he returned her wave with a small one of his own.

Then he turned to the door, shifted into the shape of a hummingbird, and sped away to catch up with the others.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

As the Titans arrived at the crime scene, they took in the damage already done. More than two hundred Slade-bots had already destroyed a crane, half of the building that was being built, and several pieces of building equipment and supplies.

"Why are they here?" Robin wondered aloud. "There's nothing of value here, nothing to steal. Why would Slade send them here?"

"You can hardly ever tell with Slade, man," Cyborg answered the Boy Wonder. "He'll send them out to some random spot to distract us from the bigger picture."

"Or maybe he's just getting lazy," Beast Boy guessed hopefully.

"Not likely, Beast Boy," Robin droned. "But either way, we're here, and we've got to stop them."

"Agreed," Starfire chimed in. "Shall we now kick the butt?"

"Yes, let's," Robin replied with sudden enthusiasm. "Titans, GO!"

Hearing Robin's shout, the Slade-bots turned their attention to the crime-fighters, stopped what they were doing and converged on them.

Cyborg sprinted forward and unleashed a sonic blast, knocking several robots back. Starfire flew upward and added several starbolts to the assault, which knocked four more robots off their feet.

Beast Boy leaped high into the air with a loud battle cry, then morphed into a stegosaurus and slammed down on top of a dozen Slade-bots. Then he whipped his tail and swept several more away.

Robin swiftly drew his bo staff and knocked several of the mischievous bots left and right. They came at him in droves, but he knocked each of them back, one by one.

After a couple of minutes of incessant combat, he had to stop to catch his breath, his hands on his knees and his lungs feeling empty. He was still gasping for air when another wave of robots approached the exhausted Titan. He looked up at his assailants, but was too slow to react to a punch thrown at him. The punch landed squarely on the left side of Robin's face, and he fell to the dirt with a thud. His bo staff fell to the ground and came to rest next to him.

Several of the Slade-bots quickly approached him and began kicking him, evoking grunts of pain from the hero.

Starfire looked in his direction and gasped.

"ROBIN!" she screamed as she flew at her struggling boyfriend. But as she did so, three Slade-bots descended upon her from the rafters of the unfinished building and pinned her to the ground. She tried to free herself from their grip, but she could not escape their grasp. She screamed as she became buried underneath more and more Slade-bots.

Beast Boy turned into an octopus and grabbed several robots with his tentacles. He threw them across the construction site, and the flailing robots collided with a previously undamaged part of the building project, knocking it to the ground.

Beast Boy returned to his human form and stared wide-eyed at the damage he caused, and he cringed.

"Hehe," he chuckled nervously. "Whoops."

Before he could recollect his awareness, half a dozen Slade-bots tackled him to the ground. He found himself temporarily unable to transform and escape from the dog-pile of the evil minions.

Cyborg didn't have the same trouble with hand-to-hand combat. He easily swatted away every Slade-bot that tried to jump him. He used his sonic cannon to sweep more of them away, and he laughed triumphantly as he destroyed the rest of the robots in that area of the construction site.

The half-man-half-machine turned and saw his three companions subdued by the robots.

"Hang on, guys!" he called out. "I'm comin'!"

He had almost reached his friends when a Slade-bot jumped out from behind the smashed crane. A large, high-powered laser gun in its hands, the Slade-bot fired its weapon, and the surprisingly powerful blast hit Cyborg right in the back of the head. The eldest Titan fell onto his face, temporarily stunned.

As Cyborg recovered and rose to his feet, another horde of Slade-bots dove at him and brought him to the ground. After he was totally immobilized by the pile, one of them opened his back-plate, dug through the wiring inside his systems, and shut him down. Cyborg powered down with a whirring noise, then became completely motionless.

The Slade-bots attacking Robin continued their onslaught of kicks upon the spiky-haired Titan, until Robin desperately reached out his hand to try to stop the barrage. His hand found the foot of a Slade-bot, and he quickly tightened his grip around it. He summoned what strength he had left and swung the robot by its foot, knocking away the attacking robots and offering him a short reprieve from their attack.

Before the other robots could converge on Robin, he was able to stand up and recompose himself. When the Slade-bots got to him, he grabbed a bird-a-rang from his utility belt and sliced the oncoming robots into pieces.

He looked around at the carnage and witnessed his comrades' plight. He started to approach the Slade-bots overtaking the other three Titans, when he stopped suddenly.

He pulled out his communicator and pressed one of the buttons on the side. After a few seconds, Kid Flash's face appeared on the screen.

"What's up, Bro Montana?" the red-haired Titan joked.

"Kid Flash, we need back-up, pronto!" Robin instructed, as he flung electric discs from his utility belt at an oncoming Slade-bot, blowing it to smithereens. "We need you and Jinx to come to Jump City now! We're at a construction site on the east side of town, by the - AAAGGHHHH!"

Robin was interrupted by a forceful blast that hit him in the chest. A Slade-bot had shot him from behind a crate, and the force of the blast sent Robin flying through the air and into a work truck.

His communicator flew from his hand, landed in the dirt, snapped closed and rolled into a puddle of mud. It sizzled for a moment and then short-circuited, a small puff of smoke rising from it.

Robin lost consciousness for a moment upon landing on the truck, but awoke when a Slade-bot grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up. The Slade-bot raised a fist, ready to strike. Robin lifted his arms in front of his face and blocked the minion's punch with his forearms.

Still being held up by his collar, he launched a right hook upon the robot's face, dislodging its head. Robin landed on his feet as the decapitated Slade-bot crumbled to the ground.

He walked over to the puddle of mud where his communicator was. Only the antennae of it was visible above the surface of the mud. He picked it up, wiped the mud off of it and opened it. He tried contacting Kid Flash again, but the device was unresponsive.

"ROBIN!" Starfire shrieked. "Please, help!"

Robin snapped back to the battle at hand.

"Star! I'm on my way!"

He pocketed the broken communicator and sprinted toward his girlfriend, who was still struggling underneath a plethora of mechanical minions. He reached down and snatched up his bo staff, barely breaking his stride, and prepared to sweep the Slade-bots away with it.

However, right before he swung the staff, a yellow-and-red blur flashed in front of him and disappeared in the blink of an eye, taking three of the attacking Slade-bots with it. The blur reappeared and disappeared multiple times, until finally Starfire lay by herself on the dirt.

Robin dropped to the ground and helped Starfire slowly sit up. Her Tamaranian blood was splotched across her face and neck, and she was somewhat out of her right state of mind.

She groaned when she came to an upright position.

"Star, are you okay?" Robin asked, worried.

"I...I'm better now," she said, looking into his masked eyes and smiling weakly. "Thank you, Kid Flash."

"Happy to help," said the speedy former-sidekick, who had suddenly appeared behind Robin and placed a hand on his shoulder.

A disoriented Jinx walked up next to Kid Flash and grabbed his arm, clinging to him for support.

"Jinxy still hasn't totally gotten used to riding bitch when I'm running full speed," he laughed.

Jinx slapped him across the face with a scowl.

"First of all, I told you NEVER to call me 'Jinxy'," she growled, now holding her queasy stomach. "Secondly, I told you - "

"GUYS, HELP!" Beast Boy shouted under a group of Slade-bots.

"That's my cue, I guess," Kid Flash declared. He zipped over to the changeling and cleared away the pile of robots in three seconds.

Beast Boy slowly stood up, just barely in time to see Kid Flash re-booting Cyborg amid a circle of dismembered Slade-bots.

"I think that's all of them!" the honorary Titan exclaimed proudly as he helped Cyborg to his feet.

"Seems like it," Cyborg confirmed after looking around the construction site. "Thanks a ton, man."

"Figured I should start out my stay in Jump City with a bang," Kid Flash proclaimed.

"But we still have no idea why Slade sent them here," Robin said as he joined the others, with Starfire in his arms. "Anyway, let's get back to Titans Tower."

"Agreed," the speedster said with a nod. "The sooner we get there, the better. Jinx is probably gonna want to redecorate whatever room you guys put us in, so I'd like to be able get at least a couple hours of sleep tonight," he teased.

Jinx's face was wrought with fury. She was completely flustered by his comment and angered by his attempt to embarrass her.

"I'll redecorate your face first, asshole." she threatened.

"I was only kidding, babe, honest," he whimpered, as all six of the heroes made their way back to the Tower.

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Slade spun around in his chair, pondering deeply. His lair was dark, as usual, with the turbines whirring and the pistons chugging.

"So, Raven didn't accompany the Titans on this mission," he thought out loud. "I guess she and the green one told the rest of them the big news."

He paused for a moment, staring blankly at the dozens of screens in front him, showing different locations all around the city.

"I honestly didn't expect Raven to join them. I assumed Robin would order her to remain at the Tower to keep the baby safe; I just wanted to see if Robin would slip up. He has gotten a little smarter, I'll admit."

Slade's butler walked up to him and placed a teacup on the armrest of his chair. Without acknowledging thanks from the villain, he turned and walked away, disappearing into the shadows.

"But I figure I'll keep the Titans busy, maybe tire them out by the time my plan comes to fruition."

He focused on the screen that displayed the Titans' living room and gazed at Raven, who was in the middle of the living room, hovering in front of the couch in her meditative state.

"I suppose I have a while before that happens. A nice, long while in which to weaken the Titans. About...seven more months."

...

**End of Chapter 5! Please review!**


	6. Disruptions

**Hi, everybody! Sorry I didn't update this story during Spring Break, instead I collaborated with deathdeathdeath to churn out Chapter 1 of "Make It Stop". But for the time being, I'm putting that story aside. I'll still update this one every once in a while, but once school's out for the summer, there's no guarantee of how much time I can dedicate to both this story and "Make It Stop".**

**Anyway, here's Chapter 6. Enjoy! Please review! :)**

_***FOUR WEEKS LATER***_

The Titans' living room was more crowded than usual, which was understandable since there were now seven Titans living under the same roof.

Kid Flash and Jinx had made themselves comfortable in the Tower in the weeks following the construction site mission. Upon returning to the Tower from that mission, however, Jinx read Kid Flash the riot act after he made multiple cracks at her. When it was evident that he didn't take her lecture seriously, she made it very clear to him that she would make him wish he was never born if he embarrassed her again in front of the other Titans the way he did that day.

Needless to say, she set him straight. He'd been afraid of cracking even the smallest joke on Jinx since then, much to her delight.

After all the Titans had returned to the Tower from the construction site that day, Raven and Beast Boy filled the newcomers in on why they were being called in to Jump City on such short notice. Robin was in the process of informing Jinx and Kid Flash that day about their assistance when he was interrupted by the Titans alarm.

Upon hearing about the announcement, Kid Flash offered a congratulatory high-five and "bro-hug" to the changeling and a hug to Raven. Jinx, who wasn't much of a fan of babies, offered them her congratulations from a distance in the form of a simple smile.

On this particular evening, the living room was decorated in a flurry of purple and red streamers, banners, and other party paraphernalia. However, the two colors were split down the middle of the ceiling, dividing the room into two rival halves, each half bearing a giant logo on its far wall: a Baltimore Ravens logo on the left wall and a San Francisco 49ers logo on the right wall.

A giant half-eaten cake in the shape of the Lombardi Trophy lay on the coffee table in front of the couch, along with empty plates which had once bore burgers and hot dogs - and in Beast Boy's case, tofu dogs - as well as half-empty bowls of chips and other assorted snacks.

It was Super Bowl XLVII, the year's most watched telecast of any kind in the country. Even the Teen Titans - every single one of them - couldn't help but watch the event, which this year was being held in the Superdome in New Orleans.

Beast Boy had donned his dark purple Ravens jersey and was obviously incredibly psyched for the game. He'd even painted his face purple to cheer on his favorite team.

Raven wore her Ravens jersey as well, but wasn't quite enthusiastic enough to mimic Beast Boy in painting her face - even though he begged her to so he wouldn't look like an idiot (to which she joked: "You _always_ look like an idiot.") Her over-sized jersey hid her newly-forming baby bump, as she was now almost three months pregnant.

Cyborg was also intensely into the game, but he was putting his faith in the 49ers. He refused to cheer for the Baltimore Ravens, since they knocked his New England Patriots out of the playoffs in the AFC Championship Game two weeks before. So naturally he was rooting for the Ravens to lose, no matter what team was playing against them - it just so happened to be San Francisco.

The trash talk between him and Beast Boy had never before been so fierce, and the ferocity did not go unnoticed. The two had to be separated, delegated to opposite ends of the couch to prevent a Titanic civil war from breaking out in the living room.

Starfire had been excited for the big game, though she still didn't understand the significance of the game - or the rules of football, for that matter. But she was nonetheless ecstatic for the Super Bowl just for the revelry of it all.

Robin had given up trying to explain to Starfire why the game was called the "Super Bowl", though he still exuded patience throughout her constant questioning of the rules of the game. He was fine with it, because he was much more interested in the funny TV commercials anyway, as was Kid Flash.

Jinx and Starfire had both expressed anticipation for the Beyoncé halftime show, which they both watched attentively. Starfire's eyes were wide open and glued to the screen throughout the performance, her mouth hung open in awe at the colorful spectacle. Even Jinx was impressed by the superstar's vocals and dance moves. Kid Flash was about to criticize the whole performance and Beyoncé in general, but held himself back with every available ounce of energy, out of fear of what Jinx would do to him.

All seven of the heroes sat on the couch facing the giant screen in front of them as the second half was about to get underway. The score at halftime was Baltimore 21, San Francisco 6.

Beast Boy sat at the end of the couch on the left side, followed by Raven, Jinx, Kid Flash, Robin, Starfire and Cyborg, who occupied the other end of the sofa.

"No way the 'Niners are coming back, Cy," Beast Boy teased. "They got nothin' on my Ravens!"

"Oh, you'll see, Green Bean," Cyborg rebuked him. "Flacco's gonna choke in the second half. Ray Lewis is washed up and the defense will crumble down the stretch!"

"Like hell they will!" Beast Boy declared as David Akers, the 49ers' kicker, booted the ball to begin the second half. Jacoby Jones, the Ravens' kick returner, caught the kickoff in the back of the endzone and started to run.

"The dumbass is returning it from nine yards deep in the endzone?" Cyborg laughed. "What a stupid move!"

As Jones made his way up the middle of the field, sprinting between his blockers and the oncoming defenders, Cyborg's laughter was replaced by screams of profanity-ridden rage.

Beast Boy stood and started jumping up and down.

"Go, Jacoby!" the shape-shifter yelled. "Go, Jacoby! Go, Jacoby! YES! TOUCHDOWN!"

He pranced around the couch for the next couple minutes, sprinkling in a jeer or two at the half-metal Titan, until Raven grabbed him by shoulder and yanked him back down onto the couch.

"Down by 22 points in the second half of the Super Bowl?" Beast Boy taunted. "Good luck coming back from _that_!"

Cyborg replied with a depressed groan.

"I knew I shouldn't have made that bet," he muttered to himself.

"Huh?" Robin asked, overhearing Cyborg's complaint. "What about a bet?"

"Crap," Cyborg moaned.

The other Titans, who all heard Robin's question, now turned their attention away from the screen and zoned in to the conversation between Robin and Cyborg.

"Yep, the Tin Man and I have a bet on this game," Beast Boy said slyly. "Tell them about it, Cy!"

Much to Cyborg's chagrin, the attention was now entirely focused on him.

"Ummm...well..." he began. "I bet on the 'Niners winning, obviously, and BB bet on the Ravens. The bet was...the loser has to wear a bonnet and a tutu everywhere we go for a week."

"A fluffy pink tutu!" Beast Boy added sweetly. "And a cute little pink bonnet for my little CyBear!"

"YOU LITTLE PUNK!" Cyborg steamed. "I told you NEVER to call me that!"

He launched himself at Beast Boy, but was held back by Starfire and Robin.

"Calm down, Cyborg!" Robin commanded, straining to hold Cyborg.

Suddenly, without warning, the TV screen became half as bright as it had been, and the commentators announced that half the Superdome's lights had just gone out.

Cyborg ceased his struggle to reach Beast Boy and stared at the screen.

"What the hell?" he wondered, as all seven Titans diverted their attention back to the screen.

"Whoa," Beast Boy added.

"A momentum shifter, perhaps?" Cyborg suggested.

"It better not be!" Beast Boy remarked. "I wouldn't be surprised if someone from the 49ers was behind the power outage, just to take away the Ravens' momentum!"

"Oh, cut the conspiracy bullshit, BB," Cyborg said disdainfully. "It's probably just some kind of mechanical failure."

"Well, hopefully it won't last very long," Robin offered. "Maybe they can fix it up quickly."

_***THIRTY-FOUR MINUTES LATER***_

"Finally!" Beast Boy sighed after the woefully dull delay. "Let's get back to that 'Super' ass-whooping, Ravens!"

"Nah, man," Cyborg retorted. "I'm tellin' ya, the 'Niners are gonna make a historic comeback. You'll see!"

"You wish, Lugnut," the changeling quipped. "We got this in the bag! You better get that tutu ready."

Cyborg growled, then grabbed a bowl of chips and started shoveling them into his mouth nervously.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ 

"Get it, Kaepernick!" Cyborg cheered. "Yes, yes, go, go! TOUCHDOWN, BABY!"

"That was totally holding!" Beast Boy whined. "The 49ers' linemen have been grabbing jerseys all game long! These refs are blind, dude! I've never seen so many missed holding calls!"

"It doesn't matter, Grass Stain, 'cause we're a two-point conversion away from tying the game!" Cyborg exclaimed. "Whoop WHOOP!"

The two of them sat on the edge of their seats as they watched the next play unfold: a two-point conversion attempt which, as Cyborg had just indicated, would tie the game. Beast Boy let out a huge sigh of relief as Colin Kaepernick, the 49ers' quarterback, fired an incomplete pass. The Ravens would hold onto a 31-29 lead for the time being, with just under ten minutes left in the game.

"Damn it, Kaepernick!" Cyborg screamed at the TV after the 49ers failed to tie the game. "Ah, hell. Oh well, there's still plenty of time left, we'll get it back! Let's hold 'em, 'Niners!"

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The Ravens led 34-31 with four seconds left in the game. The Ravens had just given up a strategic two-point safety in an attempt to put the 49ers in more difficult field position with which to try to score a game-winning touchdown.

Beast Boy chewed on his fingernails as he watched the final play begin. Cyborg was on his knees in front of the couch, praying for a miracle.

"C'mon, San Fran," Cyborg prayed. "Just this once...Beast Boy can't win, he just can't. I swear, 49ers, you'll be my second-favorite team from now on if you can pull this off."

The two teams lined up for the kick, a punt formation which traditionally follows a safety. Sam Koch, the Ravens' punter, struck the ball a long way, and Ted Ginn Jr. fielded the ball for the 49ers.

"Come on, Teddy!" Cyborg cheered as the kick returner sprinted ahead.

Ginn Jr. made his way up the middle through the defense, but was slowed down considerably when he neared midfield.

"Come on, fight through it!" Cyborg pleaded as Ginn Jr. cut toward the left sideline and broke a couple of tackles.

Before the speedy returner could pitch the ball to another 49er to keep the play alive, he was tackled to the ground at the 50 yard line, ending the game.

"NOOOO!" Cyborg shrieked as he fell back onto the couch, defeated.

Beast Boy jumped up off the couch and started dancing around the coffee table. He reached out and grabbed Raven's arm and lifted her up to join him in his dance, which she refused.

When she saw his dismay at her refusal, she held up her hand and offered him a high-five, which he accepted with an appreciative smile. Then he swept up beside her, adeptly pulled her up off the couch and dipped her like a ballroom dancer, laying a sensual kiss on her unsuspecting lips. She wrapped her arms around him and reciprocated the affectionate display.

Starfire giggled with delight at the "chromatically challenged" couple, grabbing Robin by the arm and urging him to see the two of them in their romantic state. Robin rolled his eyes playfully at the sight of them, then quickly returned his gaze to his alien girlfriend with a broad smile.

She chuckled and grinned back at him, putting his smile to shame. They leaned in for a kiss of their own, but they were interrupted by an enraged scream.

"FUCK this, man!" Cyborg whined. "I'm going to Steel City tomorrow. Being around all you lovebirds is starting to make me sick!" He turned and stormed out of the room.

"I _told _you the Ravens would win the Super Bowl, bitch!" Beast Boy taunted. "But _no_, they weren't supposed to get past the Broncos _and _your Patriots, right?"

The other Titans held their breath, believing that Beast Boy had just dropped the bomb that would start a war.

But Cyborg ignored him, still mumbling to himself as he opened the door and exited the living room.

The other Titans heaved a huge sigh of relief as Beast Boy laughed.

"Beast Boy, are you _trying _to get him to kill you?!" Robin reprimanded him.

"Relax," Beast Boy waved him off. "I knew what I was doing."

"You called him a bitch when he was already fuming," Raven admitted. "Cyborg's intimidating when he's in a _good_ mood."

Beast Boy let his head droop to the floor.

"Yeah, I guess I took it too far," he acknowledged. "Plus, his agreement to the bet he just lost is probably punishment enough for him. Wow, I feel like a dick."

"You should go apologize," Jinx proposed.

Beast Boy sighed. "Yeah, I guess I should."

He looked back at Raven, and she nodded, agreeing with his decision to apologize. He smiled softly at her, then turned and made his way toward the door leading into the main hallway.

Right before he reached the door, the Titans' alarm sounded. Beast Boy jumped slightly at the sudden disruption, then turned back to the others.

Robin had already reached the computer and began furiously typing away. Before he got a lock on the location, a mysterious face appeared on the TV screen where the Super Bowl trophy presentation had been, and a familiar voice spoke calmly, yet menacingly.

"Greetings, Titans. I do hope I haven't called at a bad time."

...


	7. Congratulations

**Surprise, everybody! I'm posting Chapter 7 this week instead of next week. I'm restarting the "update every other week" pattern so that I won't have to worry about posting a chapter during my Final Exam week. Just a little gift from me to you, in honor of my 21st birthday! (I'm legal now, so drink up, bitches!)**

** Cheers! *clink*  
**

**Anyway, here's Chapter 7. Enjoy! (please review!)**

"Slade!" Robin yelled at the screen.

"Yes, Robin, it's me," Slade taunted the Boy Wonder. "It's been a while, hasn't it? Did you enjoy the game?"

"What are you planning?" Robin demanded, clearly uninterested in Slade's idle chit-chat.

"Come now, Robin," the masked villain reprimanded him. "I'm just trying to engage in some polite conversation."

"Not interested, Slade. What are you planning?!" Robin repeated firmly.

"Patience, Robin. You don't really expect me to _tell_ you my plans, do you?" Slade replied condescendingly. "Honestly, I thought you would have figured it out by now. I'm disappointed in you, Robin."

The Titans' leader mashed his teeth together in his rage, but didn't respond.

He definitely abhorred the one-eyed psycho, but what made Robin absolutely furious was when Slade talked down to him like a father might talk to his son.

Slade knew how to push Robin's buttons. What made Robin the angriest was when Slade would compare him to the "standards" that the criminal mastermind would set for him, as if Slade was an idol that the teen sought to impress. It was something he did on a regular basis when Robin was his apprentice, and he knew the hero hated it now as much as he did then.

Cyborg burst through the doors and saw who was on the screen. He gasped, as all eyes in the room stared at him, then sprinted to the Titans' computer to locate the source of Slade's transmission.

"Hello there, Cyborg," the villain addressed him. "How nice of you to join us."

Cyborg ignored him and sat down at the computer, tapping the keys hurriedly.

"Whatever you're planning, you're not gonna get away with it, Slade!" Robin yelled.

"Oh, I don't see why I won't get away with it," Slade insisted. "But since you haven't yet deciphered my plans, I will tell you this: time is not on your side. I know you like to think you come through in the clutch, but that will serve you no good for what I have planned."

"We _will _find you, Slade!" Robin threatened. "And you are going to pay for this, and all the horrible things you've done!"

"Oh, I highly doubt that, Robin," Slade replied coolly. "You haven't ever stopped me; what makes you think you're now suddenly capable of that?"

Robin's face was devil-red as he seethed with anger. His fury clouded his mind in a malevolent fog, preventing him from formulating a response.

"Anyway...Good luck figuring out where my robots and I will strike next," Slade challenged. "Until next time, Titans."

He lifted his hand to turn off his monitor, but stopped just before he hit the button.

"Oh, and Raven..." he addressed the sorceress.

Raven, who hadn't said a word the whole time, glared at him through the screen.

"Congratulations," he said softly.

And with that, the transmission ended, replacing the villain's nefarious face with static. Shortly after, the Super Bowl post-game show appeared on the screen.

Beast Boy, Cyborg, Starfire, Jinx and Kid Flash all gasped and stared at Raven, who'd covered her mouth in shock of Slade's remark.

"He...knows?" Raven stammered.

"That son of a bitch!" Robin barked angrily as he slammed his fist down on the couch and screamed out the rest of his frustration. "Fan out! Find him! Search the city! We're not gonna let him get away with this!"

"Yo, Robin, chill!" Cyborg said, getting up from the computer chair. "He didn't say he was attacking anywhere _tonight_, man. Plus, we don't even have the slightest idea what he's planning, or where he is."

"I don't care!" Robin argued. "We have to search the city for him and his robots! They could attack anywhere at any given moment, and we -"

"No, Robin," Beast Boy piped up, stepping forward. "You used to tell us to work smarter, not harder, remember? We need to sit down and figure this out before we go out and waste our time and energy on a useless headhunt for Slade."

"Beast Boy is correct," Starfire affirmed. "We need to analyze the situation before we make decisions, like searching for Slade and his minions."

"I'm not gonna sit around and wait, I'm going to find him," Robin declared, obviously agitated.

He was aggravated not only by their opposition to his commands, but also by the fact that he knew they were right. His stubbornness got the best of him, though, as it often did, and he was going to do things his way instead of admitting that they were right.

He stormed toward the living room door, but stopped when Kid Flash suddenly spoke.

"I'll come along," he volunteered, stepping forward.

Jinx grabbed his arm and pulled him back to her side.

"No!" she protested. "The team is right, we shouldn't go out looking for him!"

"Robin's made up his mind," Kid Flash countered. "If he's gonna go, he shouldn't go alone. I'm gonna go with him."

"But...but..." Jinx pleaded.

Kid Flash pecked her on the cheek and smiled weakly.

"It's okay, we'll be fine," he tried to assure her. "I promise, we'll both be fine," he repeated louder, turning to Starfire to assure her of Robin's safety. Starfire merely nodded.

"Besides," he added with a chuckle, turning back to Jinx. "The poor sap's gotta have _somebody_ to keep him company out there."

Kid Flash walked over to Robin, still laughing. Robin was not amused at the wisecrack, but turned and headed for the door. Kid Flash's smile disappeared as he followed Robin into the hallway.

Jinx and Starfire stared at each other and heaved a collective sigh. They both had hot-headed boyfriends whom they had to worry about constantly, though Jinx was much more forceful with hers than Starfire was with Robin.

Raven walked over to the kitchen area and sat down on a bar stool, watching Jinx and Starfire cheer themselves up by once more discussing Beyoncé's halftime performance.

Cyborg began cleaning off the coffee table, picking up stray pieces of food and putting them onto the empty paper plates that littered the table and the floor surrounding it.

Beast Boy slowly approached the mechanical Titan.

"Need some help, Cy?" he offered.

"No, I got it," Cyborg mumbled, still visibly pissed off at the changeling.

"Look, Cyborg," Beast Boy began. "I'm sorry, okay? I know I pushed you too far, and I feel like a dick. You have to understand, though, you beat me at almost every type of competition we have together: video games, bets, pranks and practical jokes and all that stuff..."

He paused momentarily, still eyeing the half-metal hero. Cyborg stacked the paper plates in the center of the coffee table, then looked up at Beast Boy with a straight face.

"I'm listening."

"So," the green Titan continued, "I don't really know how to handle it when I finally beat you at something, because it's a pretty rare occurrence."

"Yeah," Cyborg agreed, as a smirk formed on his face. "It is, isn't it?"

"It is," Beast Boy agreed reluctantly. "But look, Chrome Dome, I'm really sorry. Whaddaya say we bury the hatchet, huh?"

"Sure, BB," Cyborg answered. "We're cool."

The two exchanged a "bro-hug" and Cyborg returned to his task, now assisted by Beast Boy.

Raven, who had been listening in on their conversation from a distance, smiled and got up from the bar stool and headed to her room. Her smile disappeared as she began thinking of what Slade was planning.

Surely it involved her, she thought, judging from the last cryptic word he uttered in the transmission. It replayed in Raven's head over and over, but no matter how hard she tried to block it out, it found its way to the forefront of her mind; the bone-chilling voice still ringing in her ears.

"Congratulations."

_***TWO MONTHS LATER***_

"There's nothing to do!" Beast Boy whined.

Slade had not yet made good on his enigmatic threat, which only made the Titans more nervous. But for the time being, the city was safe. They had not been summoned for nearly a week, and all of them began to grow restless.

Beast Boy had just beaten the new Mega Monkeys game the day before, after playing it non-stop for over 24 hours (Cyborg subsequently beat the game in only 6 hours, much to Beast Boy's embarrassment and disgust).

Cyborg and Robin were sparring in the gym, and Starfire was at the mall, shopping for yet another set of clothes she'd likely never get to wear.

Raven was seated at her usual spot on the end of the living room couch, reading a book about the pregnancy cycle. Now almost five months pregnant, she had to place a pillow behind her to support her seated posture.

Beast Boy walked to the couch and plopped down next to Raven.

"So...whatcha readin' about?" he asked her.

"The pros and cons of water birth," she replied in her customary monotone, keeping her focus on the book.

"Isn't that where the mother sits in a tub of ice water and the baby comes out underwater?"

"Yep."

Beast Boy shivered.

"Ugh...That shit creeps me out."

"Why?"

"Just 'cause. I mean, won't the kid drown, or something?"

"No," she answered, finally looking up at him. "I thought about that, too. But the umbilical cord is still attached to the baby when it comes out, so it'll still get oxygen from the mother, just like when it's still in the womb. Plus, it's not like you leave the baby under the water for very long after it comes out."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense."

She returned to her reading, and after a few moments he hopped off the couch and wandered over to the giant glass window overlooking the bay.

A few minutes later, she finally put the book down with a sigh.

"Garfield, there's something I need to tell you."

He turned to her, his face unusually serious. She could sense the anxiety in his eyes.

"Don't worry, it's good news," she added with a smile.

His expression immediately lightened.

"Okay, so what's up?"

"Well," she began. "Remember how I told you that I could sense the fetus inside me was a boy before other women can normally determine the sex of their baby?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"Well..." she continued, then paused for a moment.

"Well?" Beast Boy prodded impatiently.

"Remember those DNA tests Cyborg made us take after we told them about the pregnancy?" she asked. "There's a slim but still very possible chance that any child we have together can be completely normal."

"Yeah, I remember."

"Well, that early on, I couldn't yet sense the baby's genetic make-up. I just knew the sex."

"Right," Beast Boy interjected.

"Well, there are two things I need to tell you."

"Yeah?"

"First: the genetic make-up shows that they'll be born one-quarter demon, one-quarter normal, and half changeling."

"Okay, that's cool!" He chimed excitedly. "So will he have any of our powers?"

"I don't know yet," she responded. "We'll have to wait and see. And that's actually what I wanted to say next."

"What?" he inquired.

"It's not 'he', BB," she stated. "When I first sensed the sex of the baby, I was wrong."

"So it's a girl?"

She shook her head.

"So if it's not a girl, and it's not a boy, then what is it?" He sounded worried. "Is it, like, genetically mutated to be both male and female or something, like Lady Gaga?"

"Of course not, BB!" she scoffed.

"Then how can it not be a boy _and _not be - wait a minute...you said 'they', didn't you?"

A light bulb switched on in his head, and a massive smile crept across his face.

Raven smiled back at his realization.

"Y-y-you mean it's..." he stuttered.

She just nodded, and they spoke simultaneously:

"Twins."

...


	8. Shuffle

**A lot of fluff to lead off this chapter, but there are some major plot implications coming into play.  
**

**Thank you for your support and readership so far! Keep the reviews coming! They give me validation and motivation! :)**

_***ONE MONTH LATER***_

The sun had nearly completed its descent in the Pacific sky, and the last few rays of sunlight shone on the horizon through the clouds and cast a pinkish-orange hue that danced on the softly-rippling water of the bay.

Beast Boy stood in front of the humongous window in the living room, looking over the city in all its beauty as the sun found its home in the western sky. He had his arm around Raven, who faithfully stood next to him, also admiring the natural spectacle.

They watched the last tiny portion of the sun fall below the skyline, their feet firmly planted in front of the glass.

"It's moments like this that make me glad my father didn't destroy humanity and take over the universe," Raven sighed with a hint of sarcasm.

Beast Boy chuckled at her bittersweet-yet-sincere sentiment.

"Yeah," he replied. "Me too. If he had, I would have never gotten to behold this beautiful sight ever again."

"You're right," Raven agreed. "That was one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen."

"I was talking about _you_," Beast Boy replied coyly.

"Oh, shut up," Raven remarked dryly, playfully punching his arm. But the usual put-down was followed by her meekly pulling her hair behind her ear and looking down at the floor, giving off a vibe of insecurity. "You really think I'm beautiful?"

Beast Boy gently reached out and held her chin with his thumb and forefinger, bringing her eyes up to lock with his. Then, without speaking, he leaned in and planted a gentle kiss that literally made Raven float a few inches off the ground.

"You betcha," he answered cheesily, as if it were a catch-phrase. He followed it up with a sleazy wink, and Raven just smiled and shook her head in mock shame of him.

"You really need to learn how to not ruin touching moments," she said.

"Okay, how about I 'touch' you, then?" the green Titan responded. He reached to her protruding belly and softly jiggled it.

"Stop that!" Raven laughed, swatting his hand away.

"No, wait!" he pleaded. "I'm pretty sure I felt one of them kick!"

He put his hand back on the same spot, and Raven put her hand next to his. Sure enough, they felt movement from inside her six-months-pregnant belly.

"They're wrestling!" Beast Boy joked. "It's gonna be an intense sibling rivalry, I'll tell ya that!"

"They are _not _wrestling," Raven scoffed.

"C'mon, Mark!" the changeling cheered. "Give 'er the ol' Logan smack-down!"

"Stop that!" Raven scolded him. "Mark and Marie are _not _fighting in there!"

"I know, Rae, I was just kidding," he assured her.

He smiled to himself as he thought of their children. Raven had been so gracious in their choice of names for the babies. She had thought up the idea of naming the boy Mark, after Beast Boy's father. But after they found out the other twin in her womb was a girl, Raven thought it would be fitting if they named the girl after Beast Boy's mother, to complete the duo. Beast Boy had found it rather weird at first, but he figured it was an affectionate tribute to his deceased parents.

"Hey, Rae," he piped up suddenly. "Are we gonna put a last name on their birth certificates? Do we need to keep their identities a secret?"

"What secret identity?" Raven asked condescendingly. "You're green!"

Beast Boy smiled, remembering that line from the night they met, when the members of the Teen Titans had all met for the first time all those years ago. She smiled too, as it was her intention to remind him of that night.

"Plus," she continued, "I've got a red jewel permanently attached to my forehead, purple hair and gray skin, and who knows what the two of them will look like. We'll all be instantly identifiable wherever we go. And also, since we have no other relatives, it's not like our secret identities are protecting anyone. If anything, our hero identities are putting more people at risk than our real identities."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he conceded. "But what about their middle names?"

"Oh wow," Raven realized. "We haven't thought of their middle names."

"Yeah, and we might actually have to decide them _randomly_," he joked. "There aren't many people left who are close to us to name them after."

"Well, we could ask Robin or Cyborg for their real names, and use either of theirs," Raven suggested.

"Nah, I'd rather not," Beast Boy answered. "Robin won't tell us his real identity, and then he'll probably get jealous if we give our kid Cyborg's name.

"You're right," she declared with a huff. "Let's find random names that we like for them."

"Okay, let's think of one for Mark first," Beast boy offered. Raven had no objections.

The two lovers remained silent for a few moments as they pondered possible names.

"Thought of anything?" he asked.

"Not anything that fits well between Mark and Logan," she answered.

"I've got it!" he said excitedly. "I'll put my iPod on shuffle, and the first band that comes on, Mark's middle name will be the first name of the lead singer of that band."

"Eh..." Raven groaned. It wasn't a horrible idea, but she wasn't particularly fond of it, either. She could only imagine the unusual names of singers of bands that were on Beast Boy's iPod. Some weird ones came to mind, like Serj from System of a Down and Axel from Guns 'N Roses, to name a couple.

But before Raven could formulate a proper response, Beast Boy had already sprinted out the door to his room. Raven sighed, then shook her head slightly at her lover's suggestion, softly smiling all the while. She carefully sat herself down on the couch and awaited his reappearance, trying to think of a good enough name before he returned so they wouldn't be forced to let a music-playing device name their child.

A minute later, Beast Boy returned with his iPod in hand. Raven, much to her dismay, drew bupkis on a potential name.

Beast Boy put an ear-bud in his ear and offered the other to Raven, who placed it in her ear. Their heads were mere inches away from each other.

"Okay, the moment of truth!" Beast Boy exaggerated, turning the device on. Raven simply rolled her eyes.

He pressed the Play button on the iPod, and they held their breath.

A soft reggae-sounding rhythm filled their ears, and Beast Boy smiled.

"It's 'Amber' by 311," he said, and he walked over to the Titans' computer to look up the lead singer's name. "Such a beautiful song. Almost as beautiful as you, Rae," he added with a smile - a genuine one, not a cheesy, sleazy one like the one he gave her earlier.

"It seems appropriate for our beautiful children, too," Raven added.

Beast Boy suddenly stopped what he was doing, turned around in the computer chair, and got up. He walked over to Raven, held her in his arms and looked her square in the eyes.

"_God_, I love you, Raven," he said, and he dipped her much like he did the night of the Super Bowl. He bent his head down and kissed her, an act which she reciprocated.

When their romantic display ended, he finally made his way back to the computer to find the information he sought.

"311's lead singer's name is Nick Hexum, short for Nicholas," he reported after a few moments of typing and a few clicks of the mouse. "So Mark's middle name will be Nicholas, I kinda like that. Mark Nicholas Logan. It has a pretty nice ring to it, don't you think, Rae?"

"Yeah, it does," she agreed, breathing a sigh of relief at the luck of the iPod's draw. "Mark Nicholas Logan," she repeated.

Beast Boy sneakily swept up behind her as she spoke and hugged her from behind, startling her slightly.

She giggled, and wrung him in for another kiss. After a pause, she thought of something.

"You said the name of the song is 'Amber'?"

"Mm-hmm," Beast Boy nodded, still holding his beloved. "Why do you ask?"

As soon as he finished his sentence, he understood.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Raven nodded as identical broad smiles crept onto their faces.

"Marie Amber Logan," they uttered simultaneously.

As soon as the two had finished their sentence, Robin, Cyborg and Starfire walked through the living room doors, chatting and laughing about the Chinese take-out they had procured for their evening meal. They looked up and saw the embracing pair, and the three of them became silent and stopped in their tracks. The "chromatically challenged" couple was staring at them, smiles still intact.

"Get a room, you two," Robin replied dryly, earning him a look of disappointment and an elbow to the ribs from Starfire.

"Don't mind him," Cyborg hushed the leader of the Titans. "Hope we're not interrupting a love-fest or anything, but dinner has arrived!"

"Sweet!" Beast Boy shouted. "I'm starving!"

Raven sighed and scoffed as her childish boyfriend sprinted across the room to the dinner table where Cyborg had laid out the oriental feast. She couldn't help but notice, however, that the smile still remained on her face.

Beast Boy, who was now shoveling food into his mouth from a flimsy white to-go carton, looked up and saw his lover approach the table, and he smiled and politely scooted over in the table to allow her room to sit.

When she did so, he swallowed the pile of food in his mouth with a massive gulp. He leaned over to Raven and whispered in her ear.

Cyborg looked on with interest, which said a lot, considering his amorous relationship with food - especially with food that he was about to eat.

"Should we tell them?" he heard Beast Boy say softly.

"Tell them what?" Raven responded.

Cyborg couldn't decipher the next few lines out of the changeling's mouth, but he saw Raven subsequently nod, and then Beast Boy stood up to address the team.

"Fellow Titans, I have something to announce!" he bellowed proudly.

"What is it, BB?" Cyborg queried.

"We have decided on the twins' full names!" he answered.

"Magnificent!" Starfire giggled. "What will the little ones be called?"

"Mark Nicholas Logan and Marie Amber Logan," Raven answered, taking the words out of Beast Boy's mouth. She smirked as she could easily see she stole the green one's thunder.

"Beautiful names!" Starfire praised. "I cannot wait to meet the babies!"

"Well, there's more we want to tell you, Star," Beast Boy added. "We want you to be the twins' godmother."

"Oh, joyous!" she cried out. She grabbed Robin and lifted him up in a giant hug, hovering above the table. She suddenly stopped, looking confused. She returned to her seat at the table, gazed at the expecting couple and asked, "Please, what is a 'godmother'?"

"It's kinda like a secondary parent, Star," Raven replied. "Sort of like what you call a K'Norfka on your planet."

Starfire had no words to express, merely a deafening shriek of happiness that nearly shattered the giant living room window. Finally, she was able to stir up some words.

"My own little bumgorfs!" she spat out with outrageous enthusiasm.

Silkie, appearing out of nowhere, crawled up to Starfire's legs and began purring irritably, seemingly perturbed by her proclamation as if he believed she had forgotten about him.

"Oh, I am sorry, my little Silkie!" she baby-talked to the creature, picking it up and cradling it. "I haven't forgotten about you! You are still also my little bumgorf!"

She hugged and petted the larva, and it purred affectionately as it fell asleep in her arms.

While still recovering from the onslaught of sound their ears had just experienced, Beast Boy continued delivering the news.

"Cyborg, we've decided to make you Marie's godfather. And Robin, you'll be Mark's godfather, if that's okay."

"I'd be honored!" the two other male Titans said, eerily synchronized. They looked at each other and laughed.

"Okay then, can I get back to my dinner now?" Cyborg asked impatiently.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ 

The captured man stumbled forward, unaware of where he was or where he was going due to the blindfold taking away his vision. He was prodded from behind, and he fell to the floor with a thud. He could taste the dust rising from the floor after impact, and he was unable to prevent the sneeze that was inevitably coming.

"Get up!" he heard a relatively young-sounding female voice say from behind him, who was no doubt his captor. "Get the fuck _up_!"

She grabbed him by the back of his shirt and lifted him to his feet. As soon as he had regained his balance, she struck him in the back with what felt like the butt of the handle of a sword, but he held himself upright.

"How nice of you to join us," a threatening yet calm male voice called out.

"Wait, I know that voice," the captive said, in a gruff, computer-like tone. His face instantly fell in fear. "No! Not you! Anybody but _you_!"

"I require something from you," the evil voice beckoned, ignoring the man's fearful realization. "And you don't have any say in the matter."

The captive said nothing, but simply whimpered.

"Don't worry, this is a mutually beneficial arrangement," the mysterious voice tried to assure him. "You'll like what you have in store for you, and I'll get what I want."

"What...what do you want from me?" the frightened prisoner begged.

"Your creations," the bone-chilling voice replied. "I require your creations to fulfill my plans."

"No," the captured man whispered, before screaming in a fit of rage. "My children! What do you want with them?!"

"Relax, you coward," the evil voice sounded more harsh and menacing. "If you don't wish to cooperate, I'll have my lovely associate here dispose of you, and we will _take_ your 'children' for ourselves."

The captive heard the unsheathing of a sword from behind him, and felt the female oppressor place the blade on his neck, ready to dislodge his skull from his spine.

"No..." he mumbled. "Okay, I'll do it."

"Wonderful," the icy voice said reverting back to his normal tone, as the blade was lifted off the captive's neck. "Have faith. I will bring this city to its knees, and all three of us will reap the benefits, rest assured."

...


	9. Surprise

**Hey y'all! Chapter 9 is here! Another exciting twist at the end, and now the story is really beginning to fall into place!  
**

**Also, now that school's over, I have a lot more free time! However, that means I'll have more free time to do other stuff, and writing might take a back seat :/ Hopefully, I'll start back up with "Make It Stop", but this story will be my main focus. However, I'm going to be away from my computer for the next week and a half, so there won't be another update for a while. I'll try to sort all that out later.**

**Anyway, enjoy the new chapter! Please review! (I'm thinking about doing a "grab bag" type of thing and answering your reviews at the end of each new chapter, like some other authors do. Let me know what you think about doing that!)**

_**SEVEN WEEKS LATER**_

"Ugh..." the violet-haired grimaced. "Thank Azar _that's _over."

The other Titans had just finished a less-than-stellar rendition of "America the Beautiful", and they laughed heartily as they continued their revelry.

"C'mon, Raven!" Cyborg prodded the gloomy Titan. "It's the Fourth of July! Just let loose a little!"

The robotic Titan's speech was slightly slurred and he held an empty bottle that had once contained his seventh beer of the night. Recently, he'd been taking advantage of the fact that he was of the legal drinking age a little more often than Robin would've liked, but the Titans' leader had no issues with Cyborg drinking tonight. In fact, the Boy Wonder showed an uncharacteristically care-free attitude on this particular evening, engaging in a few shots with his fellow heroes and heroines and, with Cyborg's encouragement, even did a body shot off of Starfire's belly.

"Cyborg, do I look like I'm in any condition to let loose at all?!" Raven spat vehemently and pointed at her enlarged midsection, obviously offended at his suggestion.

"Oh yeah," Cyborg recalled, scratching his head with his beer-holding hand. Then he giggled nonsensically. "Well then just lighten up some! You're being a party-pooper!"

"Yo, Cy!" Beast Boy called from across the room. "Come show Star your trick that you do with the ping pong ball!"

"Oooh, yeah! I'm coming!" he yelled excitedly across the living room, making his way to the beer pong table through the throng of heroes present at the event. The Titans East were present, as were several of the other honorary Titans, to celebrate the patriotic holiday. Cyborg joined the older Titans and started up yet another game of beer pong.

Beast Boy had left the game table and appeared beside Raven as she heaved a sigh of relief.

"I have to say, I was about to punch Cyborg in the face," Raven admitted. "I hate it when he gets drunk."

"Why?" Beast Boy asked her. "It's not like he gets mean or violent or anything bad like that."

"Yeah, but he's annoying as hell," Raven pointed out. "He's even louder and even more obnoxious when he drinks."

"Well I bet you would be too if you had a little 'liquid courage' in your system," Beast Boy chuckled. "He's just having fun, Rae. He is the life of the party, after all."

"I thought that title belonged to _you_?" Raven asked him, still with a dry tone.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "I tried that once. It didn't work out too well, remember?"

Raven gave a faint chuckle as she recalled what had happened a few years ago at one of the first parties they'd thrown after forming the Titans. Beast Boy had tried a little too hard to be the center of attention, and was repaid with a punch to the gut from Raven, which sent him flying backward and crashing into the dinner table.

"Ya know, Raven," Beast Boy continued, bringing her back from her thoughts. "I'm kinda glad right now that you don't wear your emotions on your sleeves like Star and I do."

"And why is that?" the sorceress asked suspiciously.

"Because," he explained, "your pregnant 'mood swings' just consist of a back-and-forth between being what used to be normal for you - which I'm already used to - and being super nice and lovey-dovey, which I like. Normal women, from what I've heard, have spurts of temporary insanity when they're pregnant, but not you. Tonight, you're on the negative end of your mood swing, which for you is just being your old closed-in, sarcastic self."

She growled at him beneath an unmistakeable frown. He quickly became flustered and stuttered while trying to come up with something positive to say.

"But being with you through that is totally worth spending time with you," he added.

A small smile escaped her lips.

"Nice save," she smirked. He chuckled nervously, and she just shook her head. She grabbed his shirt, pulled him in, and planted a kiss on his waiting lips.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the living room, Cyborg held a ping pong ball over his head, and looked at Starfire.

"All right Star, just watch," he instructed. The Tamaranian focused intently on him in the hopes of witnessing something truly deserving of the hype he'd made about this trick.

He tilted his head back 90 degrees, and held the ping pong ball about two inches over his mouth. He took a deep breath and blew straight upward with all the might his drunken lungs could offer. He let go of the ball and dropped his hands to his sides, but the ball remained hovering in mid-air above his mouth, spinning furiously.

"Whoa!" shouted Speedy, who looked on with sudden interest.

"¡Imposible!" shouted Mas y Menos simultaneously. They glanced at each other in disbelief. "¡Es increíble!"

Starfire, who'd had a few drinks herself, looked on in silent awe with her eyes wide and her mouth agape.

After five seconds of his gravity-defying feat, Cyborg's lungs ran out of air, and he gasped for breath as the ball fell to the floor. He reacted quickly (despite his drunken state) and snatched the ball out of the air before it reached the ground.

"OH YEAH!" he bellowed. "That's right, bitches! I'm unstoppable!"

Raven, who watched the spectacle with Beast Boy from across the room, turned back to Beast Boy.

"See what I mean?" she said bitterly, pointing at the cybernetic Titan with a disapproving finger.

"Yeah, he's a pretty cocky bastard when he's drunk," the green Titan acknowledged with a condescending grin. "I taught him that, but _noooo_, he doesn't give me credit for teaching him how to do it."

"Then why didn't _you _do the trick?" Raven asked. "Why'd you tell _him_ to go show everybody?"

"Because I'm not a performing monkey," he punned. "Well, except for you."

Raven shook her head, but smiled and giggled at her lover's joke, and she pulled him in for another kiss.

_**ONE WEEK LATER**_

"That's so _disgusting_!" he screamed. "I can't watch this crap!"

He turned and leaped over the couch in an attempt to escape from the horrible images on the screen in front of them, but his knee didn't quite clear the back of the couch for his leaping technique to work. Beast Boy hollered in panic as he tumbled over the couch, flipped over himself and hit the floor with a thud.

Raven covered her mouth to stifle a laugh, but the others were not so discreet. Cyborg led the chorus of uncontrollable laughter as Beast Boy righted himself and stormed out of the room with an unamiable scowl.

"Beast Boy is a 'wimp', correct?" Starfire asked after the door had closed behind the changeling. "_World of Fungus_ is certainly not as gruesome and sickening as Beast Boy insists, is it?"

"I'm not gonna lie, it _is _pretty gross," Robin admitted. "But it's gross in a fascinating way."

"Yeah, BB's just a wuss," Cyborg added.

"You can say that again," Raven chimed in with a straight face, still staring at the screen.

"But why is it necessary to repeat the insult toward our friend, Raven?" Starfire inquired, oblivious to the earthly colloquialism.

Raven shook her head in disappointment. But before she could give Starfire an answer, the Titan alarm sounded. Flashing lights began dancing around the living room, and the educational program disappeared from the screen.

The six heroes jumped to their feet, and Robin sprinted over to the computer and sat down in the computer chair.

After a few seconds of cursory typing, Robin reported the incident.

"It's Killer Moth," he informed the others, as Beast Boy reappeared and stood next to Raven. "Whose turn is it to stay with Raven?"

"Mine," Jinx replied, walking backward to stand next to Raven, who nodded.

"All right, then," the Boy Wonder said authoritatively. "Titans, move out!"

Robin, Cyborg and Starfire hastily made their way out the doors and sprinted down the hall toward the garage.

Months ago, Cyborg had pleaded with Robin to let them use the T-Car more often for missions. Robin begrudgingly agreed to this, although he hadn't really kept true to his agreement until a couple weeks ago. He strongly preferred flying to the crime scene from the bay window of the Tower. Starfire could easily carry Cyborg, Beast Boy could've easily carried Robin by morphing into an eagle or any other large bird, and Kid Flash could've effortlessly sped across the surface of the water, Jesus-style. Robin realized that sometimes, depending on who stayed back with Raven, the window route may not have worked, and in those scenarios the T-Car was the proper mode of transportation.

Beast Boy and Kid Flash stayed behind momentarily to say goodbye to their respective significant others. Each couple shared a hug and a kiss before the two male Titans in the room left. Kid Flash immediately zipped out of the room after his "I love you" to the pink-haired ex-criminal. Beast Boy lingered a bit longer, kissing Raven once more before leaving. He looked her in the eyes and smiled.

"Bye, you four," he said lovingly as he bent down and kissed Raven's protruding stomach. "I'll be back as soon as we're done taking care of Killer Moth. Just make sure he doesn't come here to take Silkie back!" he joked.

Raven's face intimated her lack of amusement at her baby-daddy's jest. He immediately became nervous.

"Or you guys too, of course," he quickly added, and Raven smirked. "Y'all stay safe."

"_Even when I'm eight months pregnant, I've still got him whipped," she thought with a sarcastic arrogance. "But damn, do I love him."  
_

"Love ya, Rae! See ya, Jinx!" he called as he headed for the door. He shifted into the shape of a hawk and flew down the hall toward the stairwell leading to the rooftop.

"How can you stand his jokes?" Jinx asked Raven as they sat down on the couch.

"How do _you_ stand Kid Flash's jokes?" Raven countered.

"Touché," Jinx muttered, and the two of them shared a laugh.

About a month and a half ago, the other six Titans had decided (despite Raven's protests) that one of them should stay in the Tower with her whenever they were summoned, to make sure she would be safe if someone attacked the Tower while the heroes were away. Raven insisted that she could take care of herself, but the others (especially Beast Boy) could not be swayed. She still felt a little guilty that one of them had to basically babysit her each time the team sprang into action, but they all convinced her that they were happy to protect her.

They followed a routine rotation to determine who would stay behind with her. During the first round of the rotation, Raven insisted that the Titan accompanying her leave her and go with the others. Starfire, Kid Flash, Jinx and Cyborg always politely declined, and she'd just accept it after the first few minutes of protesting.

She never told Beast Boy to leave her to join the others when it was his turn, since she (obviously) valued his company too much to tell him to leave. In fact, the green Titan begged Robin to have every other shift to stay with Raven. After all, The Beast would seem to serve a pretty good line of defense.

Robin, on the other hand, almost got to the point of leaving her alone to go lead a mission after just two minutes of his first turn in the rotation. It was appropriately decided afterward that Robin would be excluded from the rotation. He felt that while protecting Raven was important, the task was essentially to babysit the twins before they were even born. He was far too antsy and self-righteous to miss out on a mission.

Now, she knew there was nothing she could do to change their minds. She felt touched that her friends would think it so crucial to make sure she was safe when they went out and put their lives on the line against dangerous criminals and persistent villains.

Raven had actually bonded quite well with Jinx during her first two times staying behind with her. They discussed their boyfriends, their plans for the future and even some private matters. She recalled the conversation she had with the hextress the last time it was her turn.

_"So, is Kid Flash 'the fastest boy in bed', too?" Raven joked._

_"Close to it," Jink sighed sadly, before letting loose a light-hearted chuckle. "It doesn't last very long, but damn, he fucks like a pro. What about you and Beast Boy? What's he like in the sack?"_

_"Well, I wouldn't really know," Raven said. "We only had sex once, I can't confidently rate him just from one time. But that one time was absolutely incredible. He was...he was -"_

_"An animal?" Jinx finished Raven's sentence for her. They both laughed heartily._

_"Oh, you have _nooo_ idea," Raven affirmed. "It was intense, but at the same time, it was so passionate. It wasn't even 'fucking', per se. It was more along the lines of... 'hardcore love-making', I guess," she added with a giggle.  
_

_"Yeah..." Jinx sighed. "Wally used to just finish, and roll over and pass out when he was done. Talk about romantic, huh?"  
_

_Raven paused for a moment, looking positively confused. "Oh...right, I'm still not used to hearing his real name."_

_"Yeah, it took me a while to get used to calling him 'Wally', too," the former Hive-5 member agreed. "But anyway, lately he's been getting better about being more romantic and passionate when we make love. I have him whipped like no other."_

_"I can tell," Raven complimented her. "I haven't seen him make a joke or an insult toward you in months. In fact, he seems downright afraid of you."_

_"He is," Jinx smiled mischievously. "But I keep him reeled in with amazing sex."_

_Raven raised an eyebrow at Jinx's last sentence._

_"Don't worry, you'll learn how the system works," Jinx whispered with fake secrecy, then she burst into laughter._

Raven shook her head as she brought herself back to the present, noticing that Jinx was trying to get her attention.

"Sorry, Jinx," Raven apologized. "Just thinking about something from a couple weeks ago, no big deal. What's up?"

"It's okay, whatever," Jinx said, plopping down on the couch. "So I think I wanna try to get good enough at the boys' racing video game to surprise them and beat them at it. Wanna play with me? I'm sure Beast Boy would be impressed with you if you learned how to play."

"No thanks," Raven answered in her customary monotone. "I need to go to the bathroom real quick. I'll be right back."

"All right," Jinx said, turning on the game console.

Raven made her way through the halls of the Tower, humming one of the songs from the CD that Beast Boy had made for her. She reached the bathroom, and thought about what her babies would look like as she relieved herself. She flushed the toilet, readjusted her attire, and looked at herself in the mirror. She turned from side to side to see different angles of her enlarged figure.

"Now _this _is how you do pregnancy, Kim Kardashian," she quipped with a smirk. After another little while of feeling satisfied with the way her body was handling the pregnancy, she decided to go make herself some herbal tea.

She reentered the living room and made her way to the kitchen area.

"I'm making some herbal tea, Jinx," Raven addressed the newest Titan. "You want some?"

When she didn't hear a response, she turned to find the reason for the silence, and she gasped. She ran over to the couch to see what happened.

Jinx was unconscious; her head was hanging over the back of the couch and the game controller was still in her hand (with the screen displaying the ominous phrase "Game Over").

"What happened?!" Raven shrieked, worried for her friend.

Suddenly, she felt extremely light-headed and, with a weak groan, she fainted. A Slade-bot appeared seemingly out of nowhere and caught her before she hit the floor.

...


	10. Demands

**Hey everybody, sorry for the long wait on the update! This is the longest chapter I've ever written, so I hope you like it! Please review!**

Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy and Kid Flash gathered together and stopped in the middle of the street, staring at the scene before them.

"Somebody call for an exterminator?" Robin quipped. As he did so, Killer Moth turned and saw the heroes.

"Foolish Titans!" the villain responded. "You cannot stop us, and you cannot stop what is about to happen!"

Robin was about to demand an explanation for the enigmatic threat, but before the question could leave his lips, Cyborg interrupted him.

"Oh, I doubt that!" the mechanical man said as he lifted his arm. His forearm transformed into his signature sonic cannon, and he took aim. "You forget, Moth, we've faced villains _way _worse than you!"

Upon finishing his sentence, Cyborg fired his cannon at a giant mutant moth eating the top of a parked sedan, blowing the moth to pieces.

"Check it out!" Beast Boy cried out joyfully. "We have our own bug zapper!"

The playful changeling looked around at his teammates, expecting to hear laughter, but instead heard nothing except the hum of the moths' wings as they took to the air and hovered around their creator.

"You try too hard, green one," Killer Moth spat. "Try _this _on for size!"

The winged criminal raised his arms, and instantly a dark moving wave appeared on the horizon, swiftly getting closer and closer.

Beast Boy's jaw dropped and his eyes bulged in fear. He'd seen this before. He recalled fighting Killer Moth's seemingly endless swarm in their first encounter with the villain, feeling battered and bruised from the bugs' relentless onslaught. The Titans were spared from a worse beating only when Robin agreed to take Moth's daughter Kitten to her prom.

"No," Cyborg whispered.

"There must be millions of them!" Robin hollered, pointing at the oncoming swarm.

"_Billions_, actually," Killer Moth corrected the acrobatic Titan with an evil smile.

"Uh, Cy?" Beast Boy nudged him. "I think we're gonna need back-up."

"We're _not _bringing Raven out here to help us, if that's what you're thinking," Cyborg answered.

"No, that's not what I meant, dude!" Beast Boy groaned as the ominous wave of killer critters drew nearer. They didn't stop until the front of the wave was right behind Killer Moth.

"Attack, my children!" he shouted. "Destroy them!"

His command brought the wave to action. Throngs of moths flew toward the heroes as Killer Moth laughed evilly.

"Titans, GO!" Robin yelled as he charged forward. He whipped out his bo staff and swatted away several moths that littered his path.

Cyborg fired his sonic cannon toward the thicker part of a cluster of the insects, destroying a good bit of them. But his attempts were futile, for as soon as some were eliminated, more would take their place.

Beast Boy morphed into a grizzly bear and swung his paws at oncoming moths, knocking them to the ground and rendering them unconscious, then stomping on them to ensure they did not live to fight again.

Kid Flash did his best to dispose of the moths attacking buildings and cars. He delivered swift, powerful punches to their heads, sending them flying into the night and crashing hard onto the pavement below before they could even react. But even with his speed, by the time he cleared the end of the street of the attacking moths, more of them would be wreaking havoc where Kid Flash had previously eradicated them, forcing him to repeat his task over and over.

Starfire flew high into the air and threw dozens of starbolts at the malevolent cloud of insects confronting her, which was so massive that every starbolt hit at least three moths. Their assault continued unimpeded, however, and a huge cloud of moths circled around her to envelop her. She closed her eyes and brought her hands together, and a big, bright ball of her green energy surrounded her before the moths did. She unleashed an incredible amount of strength and slung the green energy outward in all directions, killing every moth within a forty-foot radius.

She sighed in relief, but then gasped. Her temporary reprieve from the attack did not last more than a few seconds. She was rammed by a stray moth, and quickly more of them attacked her similarly.

Robin, unlike the others, had no interest in destroying the moths. He was going after Killer Moth.

He had noticed during their initial stand-off (and one-liner exchange) that the criminal had on his waist (with an unusual new utility belt) the detonator that Kitten had used on their infamous "date" the first time Killer Moth threatened Jump City. He knew if he was able to get to it, he could destroy it and make the moths revert back to their larval stage.

Three moths made a beeline for the Boy Wonder as he approached Killer Moth. He ducked under the first one, and then jumped over the second and third ones, leaping off of them like they were stepping stones.

Robin let out a battle cry as he flew through the air toward the winged villain. He brought down his bo staff as hard as he could, but the staff found only Killer Moth's forearms, which shielded him from the attack. As Robin geared up for another swing of his staff, the criminal sent a quick roundhouse kick to the side of Robin's face, and the hero hit the ground with a hard thud.

"Stand and fight, you little weakling!" Killer Moth belittled the former acrobat. "Surely, with the training that Batman taught you – hell, even the training that Slade gave you when you were his apprentice – you wouldn't be this easy to defeat!"

Robin gritted his teeth and stood. He yelled again as he charged toward him. Killer Moth didn't even flinch.

A moth came out of nowhere and bowled Robin over. The moth pinned him down, opened its hideous mouth and screeched horribly, showing off its razor-sharp teeth as it prepared to feast on the Titan's flesh.

"ROBIN!" Starfire shrieked. After taking care of the moths in her area of the street (with some difficulty), she saw the peril that her beloved now faced and launched her eyebeams at the attacking moth, knocking it off of Robin and killing it.

Robin performed a Jackie Chan-like kip and landed on his feet, bo staff at the ready. Killer Moth growled and charged.

Another eyebeam attack from Starfire hit Killer Moth right in the face, stunning him temporarily. Robin took a giant leap, planted his staff into the ground and swung himself around it, planting a fierce right-footed kick to the villain's ribcage. With a grimace, Killer Moth fell to the asphalt, but quickly rolled himself over and threw himself back onto his feet.

"You're going to wish you hadn't done that!" Killer Moth roared. "You can't stop us!"

"What do you mean by 'us', Moth?"Robin demanded, then did a double-take. The cogs and gears started turning in his head.

"Wait a minute," Robin pondered. "Cryptic threats? Knowing about my apprenticeship with Slade? Hell, you're even talking like Slade!"

"You don't think that…" Cyborg began, but was unable to finish his thought because he was interrupted by the trill of his Titan communicator.

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Jinx awoke and moaned groggily.

"What…where am I?" she wondered. Her eyes tried to adjust to the darkness as she looked around. The only things she was sure of were that she was in a dark, portentous place, and that she did not want to be there.

She finally became fully awake and became aware of her current state. She was shackled to a wall by all four limbs, and there was very little slack in the chains to allow her much movement.

"Where am I?" Jinx shouted, trying to get anybody's attention. "What's going on here?"

She waited for a reply for a few moments, but the only sound she heard was the echo of her own voice continuing to reverberate from the walls of the cavernous space in which she was trapped.

As she geared up for another inquisitive shout, an incredibly bright, almost blinding light switched on in what appeared to be the center of the room. Jinx turned her head away to shield her eyes from the light, and then took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust. As she turned back to the center of the room, she squinted to see the subject of the light's attention.

A long, flat, plain-looking gray table stood in the middle of the room. Jinx could see something on the table, and she could tell that it looked human. She saw what appeared to be its chest slowly rising and falling as the being breathed. Its arms and legs were bound by the clasps on the table. It wore a dark blue cloak and it had very pale, almost gray skin, with decently long, purple hair. After a few seconds of distant examination, Jinx gasped.

"RAVEN!" the pink-haired Titan screamed. "Raven, wake up! We're in deep trouble!"

"You most certainly are, Jinx," a calm-yet-terrifying voice declared.

A tall, well-built, masked man walked into the light and stood next to the table.

"Slade!" Jinx hissed. "What are you doing with Raven?! Let us go!"

"I shall do no such thing, child," Slade replied. "You are in no position to demand anything from me."

"Well then, I guess this isn't your lucky day," Jinx said with her anger turning into a smirk.

Her eyes glowed pink as she summoned her bad luck powers, but nothing happened. She closed her eyes and concentrated harder to unleash her unlucky pink energy, but to no avail. She reopened her eyes, which returned to normal.

"My powers!" she cried. "Why won't they work?"

Slade chuckled to himself at her plight.

"Because those shackles you're wearing are cancelling out your superpowers," he explained. "You didn't think that I would leave something like this to chance, did you? I have prepared for every little detail in my elaborate plan. And this time, the Titans will not stop me. In all likelihood, they'll be destroyed."

"NO!" Jinx screamed, trying to free herself from her predicament. "Whatever you're planning, we'll stop you!"

"Have fun trying," the masked villain taunted. "Oh, and as for my plan, in just a moment I'll fill you in."

Jinx continued her series of threats as Slade walked out of the light to a place Jinx couldn't see in the darkness. She heard a few small clicks and then a giant computer station lit up, revealing Slade's daunting silhouette. Dozens of monitors came to life and computer keyboards covered the panel beneath the screens.

Slade sat down in his chair in front of the screens, and then a video camera extended itself toward Slade. He turned to address Jinx again.

"Look nice for the camera, Jinx," Slade teased, turning back to face the camera.

"We go live in three, two, one…"

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"You don't think that…" Cyborg began, but was unable to finish his thought because he was interrupted by the trill of his Titan communicator.

He looked at the little video screen on his arm and gasped at who he saw on the other end.

"Hello, Titans," Slade's voice oozed through the small speakers built into Cyborg's arm. "I'm sure you're familiar with my new 'associate', Killer Moth."

"Slade!" Robin shouted as the other Titans gathered around Cyborg to see the screen. "What are you planning?"

"Pity, Robin," the psycho shook his head. "I can't believe you haven't figured it out yet. How disappointing."

Robin's mind imploded.

"I AM GOING TO END YOU, SLADE!" the Boy Wonder yelled. "Whatever it is you're planning, we WILL find you, and we WILL stop you!"

"Good luck with that," Slade disdainfully dismissed Robin's threat as he gave a small wave of his hand. "Anyway, your time is up, Titans. I gave you five months, and you couldn't even find me, nor could you figure out my plans."

"But why Killer Moth?" Cyborg pondered out loud, seemingly to no one in particular.

"Because Killer Moth's 'children' posed a perfect challenge for you," Slade replied. "He's really just a pawn, and he no longer serves any purpose to me. You can throw him in jail if you'd like, or you can kill him, for all I care."

The Titans looked back at Killer Moth, but he was gone. Not a single one of his moths remained (except for the dead ones), and the streets were silent.

"Well, I guess since you let him escape, he may yet serve to be useful to me after all," Slade continued. "An endless supply of destructive mutant monsters, and yet he hasn't even conquered Jump City. If I had at my disposal what he has at his disposal, I could take over the entire planet five times over, which, now that I think about it, doesn't sound like a bad idea."

"Where are you, Slade?!" Robin demanded.

"Well, that's for you to figure out, isn't it, Robin?" the sociopath chided the hero.

Robin looked as if he was going to pull every perfectly-gelled hair out of his head. Steam seeped out of his ears and he was fuming.

"Oh, and before I go…" Slade began. "Beast Boy, I have a little present for you."

Beast Boy's ears perked up at the sound of his name.

"What are you talking about, Slade?" the changeling queried.

Slade reached toward the camera and turned it to his right, revealing Raven's body lying unconscious and bound to a small table-like platform, which was raised up and tilted forward. Jinx was in the background with all four limbs chained to the back wall, screaming for help and wriggling in a futile attempt to free herself.

"NO!" Beast Boy screamed. "What are you going to do to her?!"

"You'd better not hurt Jinx, or I swear I'll rip off your arms and beat you to death with them!" Kid Flash joined in.

"I'm looking forward to it," Slade responded coolly. "Anyway, if you attempt to rescue them, I'll kill them on the spot. If you stay out of this, I might just feel generous enough to return Raven and Jinx to you after Raven's twins are born."

"He's kidnapped her to take Mark and Marie, BB!" Cyborg assessed.

"You are NOT taking my kids away from me!" Beast Boy roared. "I'll kill you!"

"You will do no such thing," Slade corrected him. "If you attempt to take me down, I'll just press this button."

He pulled out a little detonator, much like the one he used to activate the microscopic probes he inserted into the Titans in order to control Robin, and wiggled his thumb over the button. He then walked over to Raven's table and fidgeted with the detonator.

"This button will activate the electric currents embedded in these restraints, electrocuting her and your unborn children, green one. Think of it as an upgraded electric chair."

Now it was Beast Boy's turn to fume. His green face had turned a dark shade of crimson, and his eyes expressed all the anger and rage that had quickly amassed inside him.

"The babies are almost fully developed inside Raven," Slade informed the Titans. "And sooner than I expected, too. In a matter of days, we'll induce labor, and Raven will give birth to my future apprentices. I really can't thank you enough, Beast Boy."

"YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY WITH THIS!" the youngest Titan declared with an incredible shout. "You are NOT killing the only woman I've ever loved over your stupid evil plot!"

"I can assure you, you little runt, my plan is anything but stupid," Slade growled. He quickly regained his composure and continued. "And don't worry, Beast Boy. You're young. If Raven dies, you'll get over it. There are plenty of fish in the sea, and all that nonsense."

Beast Boy looked like he was about to blow his top.

"But fear not, Beast Boy," Slade carried on. "I'll take good care of the twins. I'm sure they'll make great assassins."

"I WON'T LET YOU TURN MY KIDS INTO MURDERERS!" the green Titan bellowed.

"Ta-ta, Titans," Slade said with his hand to his forehead in a mock salute, completely ignoring Beast Boy's outburst. Then the villain's face disappeared from the screen on Cyborg's arm.

"Fan out and find him!" Beast Boy commanded the Titans. "We've got to get them back!"

"Yeah!" Kid Flash agreed. "I know the girls can take care of themselves, but Slade is a completely different story. We've got to get them out of there!"

"But if we attack him, he will harm Raven," Starfire pointed out. "He may even kill her, like he said he would!"

"We need a plan," Robin said.

"We need to stay out of it," Cyborg insisted.

"WHAT?!" Beast Boy and Kid Flash yelled simultaneously.

"Guys, he said if we intervened then he'd kill them," the mechanized Titan said. "Think about who we're dealing with. He would kill them in a heartbeat and not think twice about it."

"But then that would defeat the purpose of his own plan!" Beast Boy shouted.

"Maybe so, but think about it: we try to capture him and he kills Raven and Jinx, and then he escapes. That means he would've just gotten rid of two Titans, and he could easily just kidnap another female Titan and impregnate her to have his own super villain children, if that's his ultimate plan."

"But he won't escape, Cyborg," Robin assured him. "I refuse to let him get away with it."

"But we'll still be two Titans down – two _friends _down," Cyborg said glumly. "I'm just assuming the worst, I guess, but I still think the best option is for us to stay out of this."

The others simply stared at him, not knowing what to say.

"He said he might return Raven and Jinx back to us if we leave it alone," he continued. "So if we wait it out, they can help us take him down before he can pollute Mark's and Marie's minds. I think that's our best chance to get out of this with the least amount of damage."

"Cyborg, you've never been in love, have you?" Beast Boy challenged angrily, getting right into Cyborg's face.

The question hit Cyborg like a ton of bricks. He didn't know how to respond.

He never told the other Titans about what happened between him and Sarasim, at least not in detail. In the time he spent in the past with her tribe, he'd fallen in love with her, and he would've sacrificed himself to save her. But before he could save her, Raven yanked him back into the present using her magic. Fortunately, Sarasim fought back and won the battle.

Cyborg glared at Beast Boy with such anger that the green teen backed down. His expression quickly softened, and he spoke very softly and sadly.

"Actually I have," Cyborg addressed the group. "I know what it feels like to be willing to do anything for the one you love, to do anything you possibly can to save her."

A long silence followed. Robin looked over at Starfire and their eyes met. He smiled softly at her, an act which she reciprocated, and he held out his hand to her. She took his hand in hers and nodded.

"Cyborg, I can't live without Jinx," Kid Flash said, stepping forward. The others, taken aback by his admission, stared with wide eyes. "I know I'm not the serious type, but...she's my soul mate, man. And Raven is Beast Boy's soul mate. You understand why we feel like this."

"Exactly," Beast Boy added. "So now you know why I'm so bent on going after Slade, Cy. I would do whatever it takes to save Raven and my unborn children. This has nothing to do with Slade – at least not to me, it doesn't."

Another awkward silence followed. Cyborg and Beast Boy simply stared at each other.

"Do you really think that Slade will give the girls back to us if we stay out of it?" the father-to-be continued. "This is _Slade_ we're talking about. He wouldn't be stupid enough to give the girls back to us when they're valuable bargaining chips. If we don't try to save them, we're never going to get them back."

Beast Boy's eyes said more than his mouth did, and Cyborg sensed the seriousness and the pain in the changeling's face.

"I suppose you're right, Green Bean," Cyborg said with a sigh. "Alright y'all, we need a plan."

...

**Again, sorry for the long wait. Here's the reason for it in a nutshell: Disney World for a week, my sister's wedding, work, trying to figure out exactly where I want the story to go, and apathy. I've found that I follow my update schedule better during the school year than during the summer, when I write as a form of procrastination rather than as a form of entertainment.**

**Anyway, I've decided to do a grab-bag thing, where I address your reviews at the end of the chapter! So here's the first one (from chapter 9)!**

_lunar silver - "uh oh beast boys anger is definitly gonna rivals the beast own and bb will tear the slade bot to scrap by the way loved the kim kardashian joke i could not read further because i was lol for two minutes"  
_**Oh, Beast Boy gets angry. If only he could turn into The Hulk. (Hmmm...*scratching my head*)**

_River Wolfgirl - "Nuuuuu that was just cruel! *Angry face* whyyy why now nuuuu ahfisvehfurbe *brain breaks down* but love the chapter and Jinx and Rae's conversation! Very entertaining! ;)_**_  
_****I can be cruel like that sometimes, sorry! :/ But I appreciate the compliment! :)**

_The Cretin - "I had to laugh at the Kid Flash quip...I don't think the Flash/Quicksilver bunch will ever live that joke down! XD I liked the conversation between Rae and Jinx in this one. Truthfully, I always saw them as friendly rivals. You gave them almost an outright friend vibe. It was very cool and I think it worked very well. Great chap. Hope to read more soon. Keep rockin"  
_**Thanks! I try to work a little bit of comedy into my writing (even though it doesn't always work) but I'm glad you liked it!**

_klu - "This has been a great story so far and I look forward to reading more."  
_**Thank you! :) Glad you're enjoying it!**

_echosong258 - "Interesting turn of events. And now I know how far along she is. Which is good. Anyways, just be careful in the wording and dont be afraid to combine sentences every once in a while. More often than not this gives better wording and a stronger sentence structure. Its possible that everything you want to put in wont be added, but thats when you realize what is unnecessary and what its needed. I look forward to your next chapter and i hope you update_ soon"  
**I consider myself a grammar freak, but often times I get paranoid about commas. Sometimes I just throw them in there when I think it sounds right, but it looks silly and I panic. But thanks for the feedback! :)**

_aniimefreak161 - " 'Kid Flash could've effortlessly sped across the surface of the water, Jesus-style.'  
'Now this is how you do pregnancy, Kim Kardashian,'  
I almost died xD That was great lol_ !"**  
Thanks! I actually am an aspiring stand-up comedian, so working comedy into it is important to me.**

_Nedpirlg - "Get pn chapter 10 and good twist though mabe she should have saw slade in the mirror maybe it would be a little more thrilling though trust me its really good."  
_**Having Slade appear in the bathroom mirror was actually my first choice to have happen, but I figured it was too cliché, so I went with something else.** **But I'm glad you think it was good!**


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